KDDI Corp. plans to take control of Japan Cablenet Ltd. by teaming up with major JCN shareholder Tokyo Electric Power Co., sources said Wednesday.
By gaining a controlling stake in the holding company of JCN, both KDDI and Tepco want to offer one-stop mobile phone, Internet and cable TV services, the sources said.
KDDI is now negotiating with several of the existing shareholders to gain control of the holding company with Tepco, the sources said, adding it is aiming to have deals done as early as January.
Fujitsu Ltd., Secom Co. and Marubeni Corp. also hold major stakes in the holding company of the nation's second-largest domestic TV firm.
Tokyo-based JCN, founded in March 2001, has capital of 34.87 billion yen and a customer base of 500,000 subscribing households. It controls 13 cable TV broadcasters in the Tokyo metropolitan area, including Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures.
KDDI has been enhancing its tieup with Tepco in fiber-optic-based telecommunication services and they aim to replace JCN's network of copper cables with fiber-optics, according to the sources.
The alliance wants to fend off competition from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., which is trying to hike the profitability of the NTT-led group of companies by consolidating its telecom providers that offer overlapping services, they said.
KDDI has been having difficulty getting customers for its fiber-optic telecom services, which include Internet connection, cable television and Internet phones.