Jupiter Japan to Become MVNO

Shares of Jupiter Telecommunications Co. rose as much as 2.9 percent after a report that Japan’s biggest cable television provider may begin its own cellular phone service using Vodafone Group Plc’s Japanese network. Jupiter’s stock rose 1.5 percent to 94,900 yen as of 9:58 a.m. in trading on the Jasdaq. The company may sign up with Vodafone K.K., the local unit of Newbury, England-based Vodafone, next year, said Jupiter President Tomoyuki Moriizumi in an interview with the the Yomiuri newspaper. Officials at Tokyo-based Jupiter were not available to comment on the report.  

“We’ve been receiving calls of interest from customers ever since we announced starting an MVNO wholesale business,” said Naoyuki Nakagaki, a spokesman at Vodafone’s Tokyo office today. “At this point though, we can’t disclose customer’s names.”

Jupiter has already agreed on terms with another mobile-phone company, Willcom Inc., on a similar arrangement, the Yomiuri said. Willcom is Japan’s biggest provider of a mobile service known as the personal handy phone system, which has a smaller coverage area than conventional cellular phones. Continue