About one in three have satellite TV dishes, and only one in six are wired for cable. Despite limitations, such as Japan s reluctance to embrace the PC, the potential for e-commerce in Japan appears to be enormous. Both are expected to stimulate further utilisation of phone lines for Internet use. During 1998 a wide range of new services resulted from rapid progress achieved with digital technology. A report was completed in February 2000, which confirmed that service could begin on 1 May, 2001.
Moves are already under way to expand high-speed Internet access.
Consumers now have more options to choose from, including new ADSL service and increased access to cable. For example, the number of customers using cable services grew from 90,000 in September 1999 to 463,000 a year later. NTT believes that this year will be called the birth year of IP broadband service . In that month there were almost 57 million mobile subscribers compared to 55.5 million fixed line subscriptions. New technologies are emerging and prices for both cellular handsets and call tariffs continue to fall.