(Tokyo, Japan) - Sony Corporation, Tokyu Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation today announced a joint agreement to establish a company called the [Advanced Internet Integration Planning Company] (Head Office: Shinagawa-ku, Kita Shinagawa) to plan several network related services (Broadband Application Service Provider) for broadband networks such as cable TV.

The newly established company will utilize the three founding members' knowledge of information technology and information distribution services to create a business that will develop a broadband network throughout Japan. The company will be established at the beginning of April and finalize a business plan by October, 2000. Once this has been achieved, the company will create relevant services for Japanese cable TV companies and invite them to become partners in the new business.

The number of people using the Internet in Japan has already surpassed 20 million and is expected to continue to grow in the future. However, most Japanese Internet users send and receive data via narrow band telephone lines that cost the same as making a telephone call. There is a growing demand for a low cost, high speed continuously connected Internet infrastructure.

High speed, large volume data transfer at a fixed price via a cable-based Internet service is in high demand, but capital investment and practical know-how is needed to develop and manage such an Internet service. Some cable TV companies do not have practical experience in providing Internet services and, although public demand is widespread, many places in Japan still lack Internet services via cable infrastructure.

At the same time, Internet content providers, being aware that the majority of users connect to the Internet via a telephone line, cannot provide the high quality content they want to. Users who are already using cable Internet connections want providers to develop high quality contents that suit cable Internet capacity.

In light of the above, the new Planning Company plans to produce its own content suitable for a high speed broadband Internet, to open the Internet infrastructure to other contents providers and to assist cable TV companies to develop their own Internet services.

In order to provide a truly comprehensive service, consideration must be given to locality and response times by allocating Main and Regional Data Centers on the network. The new company will also study ways to utilize the latest technology in network management, payment systems, user authentication and e-commerce core technology that provides full copyright protection.



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