Abstract: From the time that online real time systems were first developed, common carriers have made efforts to provide wide information services systems along with information infrastructure-information oriented networks. In Japan NTT Public Corp., which was the only common carrier at that time, began wide information services under the name of "data communications services" in the late 1960s. This period was followed by the establishment of Integrated Network Services (INS), one of the basic concepts of telecommunications in the late 1970s. And on entering its multimedia phase in 1994, NTT began working on projects to develop the infrastructure and technologies needed to enjoy the full benefits of multimedia. Although providing an information infrastructure that meets the needs of society has always been one of the roles of common carriers such as NTT, to decide attitude towards wide information services is also an important issue for common carriers. Subject Terms: information networks; information services; wide area networks; real-time systems; social aspects of automation; government policies; multimedia systems; information infrastructure; wide information services systems; online real time systems; common carriers; information oriented networks; Japan; NTT Public Corporation; data communications services; Integrated Network Services; INS; multimedia phase; society