Poweredcom Inc., an affiliate of Tokyo Electric Power Co., will take a stake in major Internet Protocol telephony provider Fusion Communications Corp. with an eye toward integrating telephone operations in the future, it said Thursday.
Poweredcom is the nation's fourth-largest phone service provider. It generates more than 50 billion yen in annual revenue, operating mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Fusion Communications, backed by Nissho Iwai Corp., offers full-fledged IP telephone service and generates almost 30 billion yen in annual revenue.
Poweredcom will acquire 500 million yen of a 1.95 billion yen third-party allotment of shares planned by Fusion Communications on Friday, the officials said, adding Poweredcom will have a 2.7 percent stake in Fusion Communications as a result of the investment.
The alliance will call for the two companies to use each other's facilities.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported Thursday that Poweredcom may spin off its telephone operation in the first half of fiscal 2004.