J:COM - Japan's Biggest Cable Operator Keeps Growing

6:08 AM PST 2/20/2012 by Gavin J. Blair

Comments

MSO enjoys healthy growth in cable, broadband and phone services despite tough economy

TOKYO – J:COM (Jupiter Telecom), Japan’s largest cable and multi-systems operator (MSO), added more than 200,000 subscribers last year to its television services, to take total cable customers to 3,074,000.

Cable Operator J:COM Defies Economy to Maintain Subscriber Growth

J:COM Defies Disasters to Maintain Growth

The company has continued to grow since Liberty Media unloaded its stake for $4 billion in 2010, topping the 3 million cable subscriber mark and the 7 million RGUs (revenue generating units) mark last year despite the tough economic climate after the March disasters.

The year to January saw growth of 7.5 percent in cable customers, 8.8 percent in broadband and 12.8 percent for telephone services, for a total of 7,142,700 RGUs, up 9.5 percent on the year.

Since major telecoms operator KDDI became a major shareholder after buying Liberty Media’s stake, it has worked to push the bundling of fixed line and mobile telephony, as well broadband services. KDDI also owns Japan Cablenet, the country’s No.2 MSO.

Twitter@GavinJBlair