TOKYO, Oct. 2 -- As part of a series of recent measures to deregulate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s government-backed monopoly of the Japanese telecommunications industry, three Japan-based telecom companies have merged to give the telecom giant some competition. The new company, KDDI, is the result of Japan's largest overseas carrier merging with two of Japan's newly established long-distance and wireless providers. The merger was announced last December and is one of many possible undertakings aimed at deregulating Japan's long-protected telecommunications industry. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone still connects 95 percent all local calls in Japan, and has captured the largest share of the country's mobile services market through its subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc.