Cable Operator J:COM Defies Economy to Maintain Subscriber Growth

TOKYO – Jupiter Telecom (J:COM), the country’s biggest cable and multi-systems operator, has continued to add subscribers despite the tough economic conditions, signing up 205,000 in the year to October, to take total cable customers to 2,865,000.

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The healthy 7.7 percent growth in J:COM’s cable subscribers was outpaced by the growth in internet and telephone services, which increased 7.9 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively. The continued expansion in all three services gave J:COM a total of  6,844,800 RGU (revenue generating units), up 9.2 percent on last year.

Liberty Global sold its 37.8 percent stake in J:COM to telecoms company KDDI for $4 billion last year, setting off a tussle for control with Sumitomo, a major trading firm and founder of J:COM. The three companies eventually came to an agreement on an alliance intended to develop synergies between their overlapping telecoms, cable, contents and advertising businesses.   

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