Company Name*

Your Phone Number*

Your Email*

Your Message*

Verify the image caption below:

BBG Communications
1658 Gailes Boulevard, San Diego, CA, 92154
Phone:

Communications Japan

2009-03-20

---

In Japan, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) designed a program for upgrading from dialup (56 kbit/s), to ISDN(64 kbit/s), and then to fiber to the home (FTTH) connections. In accordance with the program, NTT had been promoting ISDN lines chiefly to home users, with some corporate users preferring to convert dial-up straight to FTTH service despite the expense. Towards the end of the 1990s, Cable TV companies started selling their own broadband products. However, somewhat expensive installation cost made their services unpopular considering that there were more affordable options.

A venture company, Tokyo Metallic, launched Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line connection in 1999. This was the cue for NTT and a few other companies to follow suit. SoftBank launched its ADSL service in 2001. Softbank offered the service at an outrageously low price of about 3000 yen, or half the price of their competitors. Moreover, hard line sales pitches resulted in the company’s cornering of huge portion of the market. A price war ensued which saw Softbank and rival companies dropping prices and offering higher speed services very often to ensnare clients. Thus, in 2004, Japan had the least expensive ADSL service in the whole world, a distinction it retained in the following years as well.

While these take place, NTT and electric companies enlarge FTTH zones. In most cities, people have the FTTH option although ADSL is still the standard. Still, huge price cuts and zero installation costs have helped convince users to switch over to FTTH. Numerous newly-built houses are FTTH-ready with few or no wiring. In 2005, Kansai Electric Power began 1 Gbit/second FTTH service at 8700 yen.


NEXT:
Japanese Communications continued.