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Technology Stocks : Softbank Group Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Yamakita who wrote (5536)	10/13/2000 10:58:03 AM
From: Anchan	Respond to of 6020

I don't know what Softbank is up to these days (someone enlighten me, please!) -- there seems to be little news. But in addition to this news of a solid credit line, the following news bodes well for a revival of last year's project between Softbank, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), and ,err what was the name of the third partner... -- that is, to provide non-telecom mass access to the internet via Tepco's power grid. ---QUOTE--- Friday, October 13, 2000 ANALYSIS: Tepco Acts To Check Govt Control Of Telecom Lines TOKYO (Nikkei)--Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) has decided to fully open its fiber-optic networks to telecommunications carriers to check a government move toward their compulsory use. The company has judged it will no longer be allowed to monopolize the networks, which will likely be considered social infrastructure in the coming high-speed Internet age. Tepco also aims to secure a new source of revenue by leasing the networks. The nation's largest power utility has laid 40,000km of fiber-optic cable in the past two decades and will install another 50,000km over the next four years. It plans to spend 30 billion yen on fiber-optic cable in the current business year, up 50% from a year earlier, though it is keeping overall capital spending at the lowest level ever. The company is well aware that fiber-optic cable can carry a much larger amount of data than regular telecom lines. Access to cable networks is indispensable to information-related companies which need to exchange data, including video and music, at high speed through the Internet. The electric power industry is generally believed to oppose calls for infrastructure, such as utility poles, roads, waterworks and sewerage, to be utilized as paths for fiber-optic cables. But business leaders vigorously support the idea. President Masayoshi Son of Softbank Corp. (9984) insisted at the government's IT Strategy Council that the use of utility poles as routes for fiber-optic cable would greatly boost the economy. There is also a move to establish rules on opening up fiber-optic cables to telecom companies. Tepco's decision is apparently aimed at taking action to counter such moves. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Friday morning edition) -----UNQUOTE-----