AT&T; Wins Major Contract from NTT Corp. of Japan

In what could signal a new willingness by Japanese companies to purchase U.S.-made telecommunications equipment, AT&T; announced Wednesday that it has received a $110-million contract from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.

The contract, which runs for several years, is for an advanced system to monitor voice and data traffic over NTT’s phone network. NTT operates the world’s second-largest telephone network, behind only American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

For the last several years, the U.S. telecommunications industry has been pressuring the Japanese government and NTT to increase its purchases of U.S. equipment. Telecommunications trade has been a key issue in talks between Washington and Tokyo aimed at reducing Japan’s huge trade surplus with the United States.

Despite the complaints and formal talks, however, little progress has been made. NTT’s foreign purchases have been running at considerably less than 5% of its capital spending budget for several years, said Sheridan Tatsuno, a Japanese trade analyst in the Silicon Valley,

But Tatsuno said Wednesday that AT&T;’s huge contract--the largest sale ever for AT&T; in Japan--could signal a long-term shift in foreign purchasing practices by NTT, which has long favored Japanese suppliers. Still, Tatsuno cautioned that it is too early to make a firm prediction.

For its part, AT&T; would say only that the purchase was “significant for our company and a hopeful sign for the entire U.S. telecommunications industry.” A company spokesman said that while it was difficult to call the contract a “breakthrough” in U.S.-Japan trade relations, it did signify “NTT’s willingness to go outside its borders” to purchase equipment.

AT&T; said the equipment covered in the contract would replace and significantly upgrade existing AT&T; equipment and software purchased by NTT in 1986 to manage its network. The system will collect and analyze information from more than 250 toll switches within NTT’s network, noting where telephone volumes are building and alerting network managers to potential or existing problems. The system is expected to be operational in mid-1994.