Japan's largest mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc., will licence
its industry-leading i-mode mobile Internet service to Israel's largest
mobile operator, Cellcom, potentially boosting Cellcom's revenues,
sources close to the matter said.
The two companies are expected to announce the deal as early as next
week, the sources said. Cellcom has called a news conference on Monday
at 0900 GMT in Tel Aviv, although the company declined to comment on
the topic.
DoCoMo's five-year-old i-mode is an always-on Internet service that
allows users to send e-mail, chat, play games, download ring tones and
access content from more than 70,000 mobile Web sites.
I-mode helped jump-start Japan's mobile growth when it was launched in
February 1999 and secured DoCoMo's leading position in the industry. In
Japan, 42.2 million people, or about one-third of the population, use
i-mode.
DoCoMo said last week its average monthly data revenue per user was
1,900 yen ($17.85) in the July-September quarter.
Cellcom, like other Israeli mobile operators, is in the process of
deploying a third-generation network that provides access to fast
Internet service. Cellcom's 3G network is already operating in various
parts of Israel.
licenced i-mode to operators in nine countries so far, including
Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Australia.
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