@Home Corp is establishing a Japanese subsidiary in partnership with Sumitomo Corp and its Jupiter Telecommunications cable subsidiary. @Home will take a 43% stake, Jupiter 36% and Sumitomo 21%. The agreement will give @Home the rights to sell its internet over cable service to five million homes in Japan. Other cable operators in Japan are being approached about becoming shareholders and distributors. Jupiter is a joint venture between Sumitomo and Liberty Media International Inc.
In the US, @Home currently has about 330,000 customers, but has partnerships with cable operators that could eventually take it into 60 million homes. It is expecting to have reached one million subscribers by year-end. @Home also has operations in Canada and in Holland, where Intel Corp has invested $20m.
