Have a browser with your burger

Have a browser with your burger

McDonald’s to offer high-speed Web access in Japan outlets
McDonald’s Japan has been struggling to rebuild its sales following last September’s outbreak of mad cow disease.


TOKYO, May 7 — Diners at McDonald’s in Japan will soon be able to browse the Web with a burger in hand following an agreement with Internet investor Softbank Corp to install a high-speed Web service in thousands of its fast-food restaurants.

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SOFTBANK SAID TUESDAY it had agreed with McDonald’s Company (Japan) Ltd. to offer the broadband service to McDonald’s customers throughout Japan for a minimum monthly fee of 1,580 yen ($12.43).

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The deal brings together the former darling of Japan’s Internet bubble, headed by maverick Korean-Japanese entrepreneur Masayoshi Son, and the world’s largest restaurant chain.
Using the new “hotspot” access points, customers will be able to use their laptops or other mobile devices to surf the Web while they eat, turning McDonald’s nearly 4,000 restaurants into potential Internet cafes.
Softbank President Son said the companies also plan to offer telephone services over the Internet using the wireless networks.
“We could offer these services with relatively small investments. We are aiming to get multiple incomes from a single network,” he told a news conference.
McDonald’s Chief Operating Officer Yasuyuki Yagi said the fast-food giant may also allow diners to pay for burgers and other merchandise via the mobile Net.

STRUGGLE TO REBUILD SALES
McDonald’s Japan, which is 55 percent owned by U.S. fast food giant McDonald’s Corp has been struggling to rejuvenate its sales following last September’s outbreak of the brain-wasting mad cow disease.

Intense price competition, a deflationary environment and consumer fears over mad cow slowed its revenue growth in 2001, although sales managed to climb 1.1 percent on the year.
For Softbank, the deal is the latest stage of an aggressive move into high-speed Internet services as Son aims to transform the company from an Internet investor to a broadband company and ease investor worries over its high debt levels.
Last September, it joined with subsidiary Yahoo Japan Corp, Japan’s largest Internet portal, to offer an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service, although it has fallen short of initial subscriber targets.
A report in the evening edition of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business newspaper said Softbank would begin testing the wireless service at McDonald’s restaurants in Tokyo as early as this month, before gradually expanding it to other areas.
Yuta Sakurai, a senior analyst at Nomura Securities, welcomed Softbank’s move but warned that it would take some time to generate profits from the service.
“Right now, they are jostling for position and profitability is a secondary thing,” he said.
Son said Softbank is currently negotiating with other partners to offer hotspot services, although he declined to give details.

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With the installation of the wireless LAN (local area network) networks relatively easy and cheap, several Japanese restaurants and cafes have tied up with fixed-line telecom carriers to offer wireless Web services.

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NTT Communications Corp, a long-distance carrier in the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp group of companies, has tied up with hamburger chain Mos Food Services Inc to offer hotspot services for a monthly fee of 1,600 yen.
The commercial service is expected to kick off in the middle of May.
Experts say, however, that it’s too early to predict how fast such services will bloom.
For one thing, most operators haven’t decided how to share installation costs with their partners or how to charge users.
Security issues also need to be resolved. Experts say hotspots could prove to be a hotbed for hackers and viruses that could infect every user in the same access space.
Softbank shares fell 2.39 percent to 1,875 yen on Tuesday while McDonald’s Japan rose 3.46 percent to 2,990 yen. The benchmark Nikkei average was down 2.03 percent. ($1=127.13 Yen)

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