Most of Japan's major Internet service providers are starting to see a leveling off in the growth in the number of subscribers to their services.
The number of people newly subscribing to broadband high-speed, large-capacity services, such as asymmetrical digital subscriber lines, is rising, but the amount of people using slower dial-up access services is decreasing.
At some providers, the falls in the dial-up category are larger than the gains in broadband subscribers, causing a dent in the overall number of subscribers.