eAccess to expand ADSL business

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EAccess Ltd will expand sales at its ADSL Internet access service division by joining hands with a new business partner, incoming eAccess President Koji Fukata said Monday.

The Internet service provider has teamed up with Credit Saison Co to market its asymmetric digital subscriber line services to customers of the credit card company, which is closely affiliated with Seibu Department Stores Ltd and other retail firms, Fukata, now vice president, said.

The existing tie-up partners of eAccess are U.S. technology firms Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc. The addition of Credit Saison is expected to broaden the scope of eAccess’ sales targets.

In the Japanese broadband Internet market, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp group is the dominant player. As the NTT group focuses on fiber-optic Internet services, ADSL service providers are struggling.

But eAccess is gunning for a bigger slice of the market with its lower-priced services, Fukata said, adding that ADSL services have adequate connection speeds for ordinary web-browsing activities through personal computers.

For Credit Saison customers, special offers will include no initial costs for new subscribers to the ADSL services of eAccess, with a special coupon worth 4,000 yen under the Internet firm’s point program to newcomers with contracts lasting at least 12 months.

EAccess aims to seek other tie-up partners outside the technology industry, Fukata noted.