| Cable Up 21% While DSL Drops in Japan |
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J:COM reports they reached 1,518,700 high speed customers, up 259K or 21% from a year ago, despite near-universal competition from fiber. During the same period, DSL fell dramatically across Japan. J:COM was one of the first to offer over 100 megabit downloads at a reasonable price, only $5 extra. They've reported that 26% of new customer take the highest tier. Parent company Liberty is looking closely at upstream 100 meg as well, which their equipment is ready to support with a very modest upgrade. J:COM's has a service I've not encountered elsewhere: earthquake warning. For a fee, they provide a dedicated box that not merely gives a loud warning but also calculates when the quake is likely to hit that particular neighborhood. They get the information automaitically from Japan's monitoring network, including the predicted epicenter. The box in each house calculates how many seconds before the quake hits. Warnings over the network make sense for everything from exurban forest fires to hurricanes. The technology is there for a broadband network to reach a targeted population almost instantly. Is there a bear loose in Highland Falls? Should everyone stay indoors until the Police chase the bear back into the woods? Can your network provide the warning?
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