Greg and all,
I'm a bit confused. I got this from the QCOM thread. Is PHCM in direct competition with DoCoMo? Or could DoCoMo use PHCM's service? Initially, I thought DoCoMo just supplied the actual cell phones and not the internet service, but after reading this, I was obviously mistaken.
Thanks:
NTT DoCoMo in Talks on Wireless Internet Services for the US
--From AOL.-- Cooters
Detroit, March 27 (Bloomberg) -- NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc., Japan's biggest mobile phone company, said it's in talks with several large U.S. phone companies to bring its wireless Internet service to American consumers later this year.
NTT DoCoMo, as the phone company is known, is talks with SBC Communications Inc., Bell Atlantic Corp. and AT&T Corp., among others. The carriers would license a variant of DoCoMo's i-mode service, which offers constant Internet access from cell phones, company President Keiji Tachikawa said.
I-mode allows mobile phone users to send and receive e-mails and browse specialized Web sites without a computer. It also offers unique features such as downloadable ring tones and cartoon character images, for which Japanese consumers pay 300 yen per month plus 0.30 yen per packet of data transmitted.
Since its February 1999 introduction, i-mode has become Japan's most popular wireless service, with 5.1 million subscribers today and 10 million by the end of this year, Tachikawa said.
``I definitely believe this kind of service will become available in the U.S. this year,' Tachikawa said, in a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit.
AT&T is the largest U.S. wireless company, with about 12.2 million customers at year-end 1999. Bell Atlantic will become the largest when it completes its U.S. joint venture with Vodafone AirTouch Plc, expected in early April, and the acquisition of GTE Corp., expected by May. SBC had 11.2 million customers at year's end.
All of the carriers currently offer data services, but some are based on older, circuit-switched technology and they require users to dial up each time they want to access the Internet, rather than providing an always-on connection.
NTT DoCoMo also is seeking global partners for its so-called third-generation wireless services, which it's currently introducing in Japan, Tachikawa said. Third-generation technology will provide wireless users with video and data downloads at 384 kilobytes per second, or more than six times better than today's best modems on wired telephones.
These partnerships could require NTT DoCoMo to take an equity stake in overseas wireless providers, Tachikawa said. VoiceStream Wireless Corp., which is building a nationwide U.S. wireless network based on global system for mobile communications technology, the prevalent wireless protocol in Europe and Asia, is one company that might join NTT DoCoMo in such a partnership, Tachikawa said.
VoiceStream is about 30.6 percent owned by Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., which invested $957 million in the Bellevue, Washington-based company last year. VoiceStream completed the purchase of East Coast wireless carrier Omnipoint Corp. in February. Its purchase of Aerial Communications Inc., whch operates in the U.S. Midwest, is pending.
Separately, NTT DoCoMo will invest in an Internet bank being planned by Sakura Bank Ltd., Japan's fifth-largest bank, Tachikawa said. NTT DoCoMo will take a 5 percent stake in the new bank, said Tachikawa, who declined to specify how much NTT DoCoMo will pay for the stake.
Sakura will use the new bank to process transactions conducted via wireless Internet services like i-mode. NTT DoCoMo may establish similar arrangements with other banks in the U.S. and Japan, Tachikawa said.
Shares of VoiceStream fell 8 1/2 to 133 1/2 in the U.S. NTT DoCoMo fell 140,000 yen to 4.04 million yen in Japan.
Mar/27/2000 17:38
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