Tuesday, June 27, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
News
Softbank to offer cheap fiber-optic service
Tokyo -- Japan's Softbank Corp. will begin offering a low-fee fiber- optic communication service that partly relies on existing phone lines as early as this business year, the Nihon Keizai business daily reported on Monday.
Softbank, which has a broad portfolio of Internet, telecoms and finance businesses, is interested in offering such a service and has begun testing it but has not made a decision to go ahead with it yet, its spokesman Jin Nakamura said.
The Nihon Keizai said Softbank will price the service below the ¥6,000-7,000 commonly charged for fiber-optic services, but above the ¥3,000-4,000 for asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services. The service will switch to existing phone lines near a user's home, lowering Softbank's costs and allowing it to cut its fees while providing a service close in speed to a full fiber-optic one, it said.
Softbank dominates Japan's broadband market with its ADSL high-speed Internet service Yahoo BB, which grew rapidly due to its cut-rate prices, innovative services and an aggressive sales campaign.
Yahoo BB is a joint venture with Yahoo Japan Corp. and had more than five million customers at the end of March. It faces increasing competition from fiber-optic services. Softbank owns 42% of Yahoo Japan. -- Reuters
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