NTT Plans to Eliminate 20,000 Jobs

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. (NTT) of Tokyo announced a restructuring plan that would cut about 20,000 jobs by March 31, 2003. The company, which reported a work force of 224,000 in March 1999 and which has not submitted the final plan to its labor union, drafted the proposal as an update to its prospectus for the November share offering.

This is the Japanese government's fifth offering of shares since NTT was partially privatized in 1985. The company, which dominates the local network, has come under pressure to reduce its costs and to slash its interconnection fees.