OREANDA-NEWS. The regional carriers of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. each look to add 500,000 subscriptions for their fiber-optic broadband services in fiscal 2013, up 100,000 from fiscal 2012 estimates for each.

NTT East will aim for a total of 10.25 million subscriptions while NTT West will shoot for 8.11 million in fiscal 2013. The goals were laid out in the regional carriers' business plans for the fiscal year.

No longer able to count on consumers, NTT East and NTT West will step up efforts to get small-to-midsize companies to subscribe. Both carriers are seeing an increase in contract cancellations, mostly from younger, single-person households, due to the spread of smartphones. They are also facing competition from rival KDDI Corp. (9433) and cable television companies.

NTT East Senior Vice President Fukuzo Inoue says that one of the merits of dealing with smaller businesses is that they can be "expected to continue using our service." The carrier originally catered to large companies, but increased contact with small-to-midsize companies will make it easier to sell various IT-related services.

NTT East has partnered with Microsoft Japan Co. to sell a service to smaller companies and home offices starting Tuesday that bundles fiber-optic service with a maintenance plan for IT equipment. NTT West plans to bolster its small-business sales system as well.

Both companies lowered monthly fiber-optic fees for residences by about 30% to 3,600 yen to 3,700 yen in December. With the revenue per fiber optic line falling, both will have to address cost reduction on a company-wide scale.