InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

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My comment..NEC I-Mode 3G handset due shortly in Europe..

DoCoMo to recruit i-mode operators against Vodafone



By Simon Marshall, for TOTAL TELECOM, in Cannes
25 February 2004

Japanese operator talks up i-mode incremental ARPU, benefits against Vodafone's Live! service.



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NTT DoCoMo provided evidence on Wednesday that it claims proves its i-mode service offers enough incremental revenue opportunities for European operators to consider it an effective weapon against Vodafone's Live! service.

NTT DoCoMo's i-mode content model came under fire earlier this week from Portugese operator Optimus, which said i-mode could soak up its pre-paid voice revenues.


But DoCoMo was today keen to show that ARPU in new figures – which indicate between 6 and 10 euros per month per subscriber – is incremental, and therefore a money-spinner for operators that deploy i-mode profitably.

“This ARPU figure from us is a real number,” Takeshi Natsuno told TOTAL TELECOM, indicating that the data had been taken directly from i-mode operators such as KPN, E-Plus and Telefonica Moviles. He explained that there are few sources for publicly checking ARPU figures from operators.

“According to the investment banks, Vodafone is not providing this [level] of ARPU numbers, which shows that i-mode is winning in Europe,” he claimed.

The new figures also show that more than two million users now subscribe to the i-mode service in Europe, as at the end of last month.

“The major difference between us and Vodafone is that Vodafone Live! is not an active subscriber base,” asserted Natsuno. “We have an active subscriber base because [active] subscriber numbers are everything to content developers,” he added, perhaps not surprisingly, since DoCoMo famously gives 90% of content revenues to its developers.

DoCoMo plans to upgrade i-mode services in Europe to more closely reflect the functionality of its popular service in Japan as operators roll out 3G in Europe this year.

“We're going to introduce I-mode in Europe with the same quality as in Japan,” said Natsuno, “[and] we will also synchronise activity in Japan with Europe.”

This should pave the way for new partnerships with Samsung, Panasonic, Sagem and Siemens to release i-mode handsets into Europe and Asia. In particular, DoCoMo will introduce the NEC m900i handset – which is 3G only and Macromedia Flash-equipped - into the European market later this year.

It is, however, being cagey about further operator partnerships in Europe. It has existing deals with KPN Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, WIND, Bouygues, E-Plus FarEasTone Telecom and BASE NV. COSMOTE Mobile Telecom is due to launch i-mode services to coincide with Greece hosting the Olympic Games in Athens this year. Natsuno declined to name further potential i-mode operators, although clearly expects to sign others this year.

“We are getting a lot of enquiries from potential i-mode operators in Europe,” he said. “They want to have a weapon to fight Vodafone [Live!], and so they are thinking about i-mode very seriously.”

DoCoMo plans to take a hard line with approaches from operators that are not interested in adopting the same content revenue model that appears to be behind i-mode's five-year success in Japan.

“The European telecoms mindset is stuck on owning the subscriber, [but] the Japanese way is to share [Internet] content revenue so that the content eco-system will grow,” said Natsuno. “No-one can own a subscriber, and we will reject anyone with a telecoms mindset.”