NTT DoCoMo and Hutch to Launch i-mode in India

NTT DoCoMo and Hutchinson Essar (Hutch), one of India's leading mobile operators, announced an agreement under which Hutchison Essar will launch the i-mode mobile Internet service in India in 2007.

DoCoMo will license its patented technologies to Hutchinson Essar so it can offer i-mode on GSM, GPRS and W-CDMA networks. Hutch's subscribers will gain access to rich content, e-mail, games and a variety of useful and entertaining Internet services on their mobile handsets.

"I am delighted that i-mode will be introduced in India, giving DoCoMo a foothold in this dynamic emerging market," said Takeshi Natsuno, DoCoMo Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Multimedia Services. "We are excited about our alliance with Hutchison Essar, one of India's leading and fastest-growing telecom operators. This will certainly create new momentum for the expansion of i-mode into other Asian markets."

"i-mode is the natural next step for us. At Hutch, we believe that mobile Internet is the way forward for the Internet and what better partner to have for this but i-mode. We are delighted that we will soon be able to offer this brilliant service to our customers," said Asim Ghosh, Managing Director, Hutchison Essar.

I-mode currently has more than 53 million subscribers and is available in 16 countries/regions of Asia-Pacific and Europe: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan and the UK. Preparations are also underway to launch i-mode in Hong Kong, Macao and the Philippines. DoCoMo plans to expand the service to a total of 26 countries/regions in the future.