Re: AWS & DoCoMo Today's Comments - W-CDMA - 'i-mode' now at 15.5 million subs
>> DoCoMo Buys Into AWS
wirelessweek.com
Margo Mcall
Wireless Week
12/04/00
The wireless industry has watched NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode subscriber numbers with the same awe one would reserve for a comet streaking through the heavens. But all eyes will now turn to AT&T Wireless as it tests whether the Japanese juggernaut will be as successful after landing on American soil.
DoCoMo’s $9.8 billion purchase of a 16 percent stake in AT&T Wireless will allow the AT&T Corp. offshoot to become the first national carrier to develop a third-generation wideband-CDMA network. An AT&T Wireless subsidiary focused on new data-based services is being established at the wireless division headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Technical staff from both companies will work to develop wireless multimedia applications such as video e-mail, music downloads and streaming audio and video.
Further, DoCoMo, in talks with AT&T Wireless since mid-summer, has the option to purchase another $41.7 million shares of AT&T Wireless.
In addition to measuring AT&T Wireless’ ability to migrate beyond TDMA technology, development of an i-mode-like technology will test U.S. subscribers’ willingness to embrace the wireless Web. "By AT&T really focusing on high-speed data and Internet services, it’s going to accelerate on an industrywide basis the move toward data services," predicts Jeff Kagan, an independent telecom analyst.
AT&T Wireless has the challenge of conceiving content as compelling as that offered through more than 30,000 i-mode sites. While such varied offerings are possible here, an important challenge, says Kagan, will be in cracking the code to find out what American wireless customers like. Mohan Gyani, AT&T Wireless Services’ CEO and president, says the company already is being approached by content providers, although a system for developing content has yet to be devised.
Also uncertain is whether Americans, spoiled by fast personal computer Internet access, will embrace the mobile Internet as readily as Asians and Europeans have. "i-mode has succeeded wildly in Japan and it has the potential to succeed in other markets," says Elizabeth Harr Bricksin, vice president of international operations at the Strategis Group. "But consumers here are familiar with the fixed-line Internet experience and all that it offers. Will that impact the success of the wireless Internet? In my opinion, that’s the big question."
NTT DoCoMo talked with several wireless carriers before settling on AT&T Wireless. The Japanese firm liked the carrier’s strong brand and willingness to share DoCoMo’s vision of providing a service that would let customers travel the world with a single handset. AT&T Wireless officials say that it will only cost $10 per potential customer to migrate to the W-CDMA network - the same as it would cost to migrate from TDMA to enhanced data rate for global evolution. AT&T plans to retain TDMA as its "workhorse" for some time. The company will expand PocketNet, which currently offers access to only four Web portals, as it upgrades networks.
Tom Friedberg, an analyst with Tucker Anthony Capital Markets, believes AT&T Wireless entered the wireless data market too early - before the technology was mature. The link-up with DoCoMo should help AT&T Wireless "start to compete in the data wars," he says. Naqi Jaffrey, vice president of wireless for the Strategis Group, says that the move will position AT&T for 3G. "I think AT&T realized it couldn’t wait until 2002 for EDGE," he says.
AT&T Wireless will receive $6.2 billion from DoCoMo, which it will use to expand its footprint and migrate to the new network. AT&T Corp., which plans to spin off its 85 percent interest in AT&T Wireless early next year, will use its $3.6 billion to pay down its debt.
NTT DoCoMo, which means "anywhere" in Japanese, had been looking for a U.S. wireless partner for months among candidates that included Cingular Wireless, the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier. Last week, it also announced it will spend $538 million to acquire a 20 percent stake in KG Telecomunications Co., a wireless broadband company in Taiwan. With 15.2 million subscribers, and a growth rate of 300,000 new customers each week, i-mode undoubtedly is the world’s most popular wireless Internet service. Whether it will become a star in the United States or merely a comet streaking through the night sky remains, well, up in the air. <<
Also:
>> DoCoMo Claims 15.5 million 'i-mode' Users
Ray Le Maistre
Total Telecom
04 December 2000
NTT DoCoMo has 15.5 million "active subscribers" to its revolutionary i-mode service, according to 3 December figures released to Total Telecom at the ITU Telecom Asia 2000 event in Hong Kong.
The revelation came from Takeshi Natsuno, executive director of DoCoMo's Gateway Business Department, and one of the driving forces behind i-mode.
And Natsuno is looking to repeat that success around the world with a series of partnerships, in the hope that the Japanese model can attract users in different territories, such as Europe (with partner KPN) and North America (AT&T Wireless). "Remember, what we are doing is taking the concept, the business model, to the rest of the world. We are a business player ¡V I am only interested in making money," Natsuno told Total Telecom.
So why has DoCoMo been so successful in creating a model not seen elsewhere in the world? "It's all about getting to the heart of the consumer ¡V you must market your services and how it attracts the user's heart. And once you know that you must share that marketing knowledge with the equipment makers and content providers to make it a win-win situation," added Natsuno.
But the key to DoCoMo's success has been to avoid the mindset of a telecoms company. "This is not a telecoms world any more. This is an Internet world. This is an Internet business. The telecoms mind has to change," he concluded. <<
- Eric - |
