ABSTRACT
Japan’s high-speed Internet access services, or broadband services, have rapidly developed since 2000 and are reputedly the cheapest and fastest in the world. Particularly noteworthy is the explosive diffusion of the fiber to the home (FTTH) service: whereas asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service is an easy step to broadband services, FTTH is the final broadband service. Two problems must be faced when discussing broadband migration. Breakdowns are given based on Internet usage. Selection ratios follow: ADSL (63%), FTTH (21%), and CATV Internet (17%). Looking at ADSL, market shares are 39% for Softbank and 34% for NTT. Current major Internet usages of ADSL subscribers include Web browsing (84%), Internet protocol phone (40%), and moving-picture viewing (35%). Next for FTTH, market shares are 52% for NTT and 11% for K-opticom. For parameters, the incremental utilities of linear-in-parameter derived from various Internet usages are likely to differ among ADSL, FTTH, and CATV Internet, because service quality varies.
