Kyocera Corp and Taito Co Ltd will establish a group to start a consumer multimedia telecommunications service. Called Kyocera Multimedia Corp, it will start business in August, with capital investments from 26 companies, including banks, securities companies, department stores, supermarkets, airlines and even beer companies. It will be capitalised at $40m. Taito will be taking a 40% stake and Kyocera a 25% stake. All the other companies involved will take smaller stakes, each ranging from 1% to 2%. The new company will begin by establishing a nationwide database. It also plans to distribute karaoke, information and games to households over ordinary Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp public phone lines.
