High-Speed Internet Service Users Up Sharply in Japan

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press)–The popularity of high-speed Internet services among Japanese individuals increased sharply in fiscal 2003 that ended on March 31, a Public Management Ministry survey showed Friday.

At the end of the latest fiscal year, the number of subscriptions to high-speed Internet services based on digital subscriber lines, including asymmetric DSLs, grew 59.4 pct from a year before to 11,196,830, the ministry said.

Subscriptions to optical fiber-based services jumped 3.7-fold to 1,142,335.

The survey showed that DSL-based Internet services are more popular as their service fees are lower than those for optical fiber- based services, ministry officials said.

But optical fiber services, which boast higher data transmission speeds, are rapidly catching up as service providers are reinforcing marketing activities, they said.END