SECOM Co, the company that pioneered integrated security services in Japan, has established a base in China for a business that could overshadow its home market. Secom believes it may eventually be able to sign up as many as one million Chinese customers for its service, which uses hi-tech sensors and proprietary software to monitor fires, burglaries and medical emergencies. This would make the Chinese market more than double the size of Japan's, where the company has 450,000 customers. China is the fifth Asian market the company has entered apart from Japan, but executive director Nobuyuki Sasaki says demand for security services seems to be growing faster than in Malaysia and Singapore - two markets the company entered earlier. Secom announced plans this month to establish a joint-venture security service company in Tsingtao, its fifth venture in China, following those established in Dalian, Hainan, Shanghai and Beijing over the past three years.
