JCOM Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, whose main operation is an MSO (multiple-system) cable operator in Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. It is a consolidated subsidiary of KDDI, and is a 50/50 joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation.
Previously known as Jupiter Communications, the company uses the brand name J:COM, and many of its subsidiaries have the J:COM name.
History
The company was created in December 1994 by Tele-Communications Inc., one of the largest MSOs in the world at the time. The company would initially offer cable systems and would later branch out to telephone services.[1] The company expected to set up its telephony services by mid-1996, as well as trialing interactive television services.[2] TCI, on its behalf, had problems with Japanese bureaucracy, as well as problems faced by smaller cable companies to provide digital services even after deregulation in 1993, enabling more foreign control.