mitene internet Co., Ltd.

Fukui prefecture just recorded the steepest population fall in its history, and its local internet brand — mitene, running since 1996 — still sells fibre to the households that remain. The tariff table says a family line costs 4,950 yen a month on NTT's wholesale fibre. The harder question is what the local name on the invoice is worth, who actually pays for the 23 people who run it, and how a provider whose consumer base is literally dying built a second business selling infrastructure to other operators from Seoul to Singapore.