NTT DoCoMo continues to seek global opportunities

Continuing its efforts to expand globally, NTT DoCoMo Inc. is in talks with other carriers to introduce its i-mode mobile Internet service in Asia and Europe while exploring opportunities in China, President and Chief Executive Officer Keiji Tachikawa said Monday at the Telecom World 2003 conference and exhibition in Geneva.

Signaling the first signs of a split with Hutchison 3G UK Ltd., in which NTT DoCoMo has a stake, Tachikawa said the Japanese operator is negotiating with other operators that “are willing to provide i-mode in the U.K.”

However, a representative for NTT DoCoMo in Japan declined to confirm Tuesday that the Japanese firm was in discussions with mobile phone operators other than Hutchinson to launch its i-mode mobile phone service in the U.K. “We are in discussions with 3G,” the spokesman at NTT DoCoMo’s headquarters in Tokyo said. As a stakeholder in Hutchison, the company plans to work with the U.K. operator to launch its popular i-mode service, he said.

I-mode is a platform for mobile phone communications that offers users access to thousands of Internet sites as well as specialized information and services. The service has been particularly popular in Japan, where it has drawn more than 39 million subscribers, according to NTT DoCoMo. It is available in several European countries, including Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands and will be rolled out soon in Italy, according to Tachikawa. The service has more than 1 million customers in Europe, he said.

Negotiations are under way with several other European and Asian operators, Tachikawa said, but he declined to disclose names.

Outside of Japan, Taiwan is currently the only Asian country using the service.

China, with more than 1.3 billion people, is a fast-growing market for 2G (second-generation) mobile phone services and thus “a very attractive market” for new 3G (third-generation) services, Tachikawa said. “We are strongly interested in this market but the government has yet to release conditions for 3G licenses. So we are waiting to see what the government does and will make a decision then,” he said.

Tachikawa expects 3G to have a similar take-up to 2G. The new mobile broadband technology, he said, will need around 10 years to reach the 1.1 billion users that 2G has worldwide today.

As for 4G (fourth-generation) technology, Tachikawa said commercial service is about 10 years away.

At its booth in Geneva, NTT DoCoMo is showcasing its prototype “contactless” phone payment technology. Users can pay for goods and services electronically by placing phones with an integrated sensor chip on a specially-designed electronic pad.

Telecom World 2003 is organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the United Nations (UN).