Tokyo-based railway operator Tobu Railway Co. said Wednesday that it will set up broadband optical fiber networks alongside 400 km of its railways in Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures, allowing it to rent out the lines by the end of March.
Construction of all sections will be finished by the end of March 2003, at a cost to Tobu of 3.3 billion yen.
Tobu will set up optical fiber networks along almost all of its Isesaki, Nikko, Utsunomiya, Noda and Tojo Lines, with a 15.2-km section between Omiya and Kasukabe stations on the Noda Line in Saitama Prefecture being the first available for rental, the company said.
Prospective customers are telecom and cable TV operators, Tobu Railway said.
The Tobu group, which started a cable TV business in October that serves 68,000 subscribers in central Saitama Prefecture, plans to offer a similar service in Kasukabe in the eastern part of the prefecture for 75,000 households around October next year.