Services based on NTT DoCoMo's successful i-mode technology will be available in Europe for the first time from mid-2002, according to a senior executive at the firm.
Mr Akira Hirooka, managing director of NTT DoCoMo Europe (UK), told The Irish Times yesterday that European mobile users needed these services as much as Japanese users.
Mr Hirooka was in Dublin to speak at the Ireland Japan Association. Fellow speakers included executives from Eircell, Vodafone and Dublin-based technology firm Network365.
He said the new service would be offered by one of NTT DoCoMo's European partners, KPN Mobile.
Subscribers will be offered a variety of mobile internet services including stock prices, ticket reservations, restaurant guides and online games. They will be available on mobiles with internet browsers capable of handling i-mode compatible services and those based on the European standard wireless application protocol (WAP).
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service, which offers users a connection to the internet, has achieved phenomenal growth in Japan, signing up 37 million subscribers.
In contrast to WAP, which is used by most European mobile carriers, i-mode was set up with an "always on" internet connection. Japanese users were able to connect to the internet much faster pace than Europeans who, until very recently, relied on a slower dial-up service more quickly.
I-mode uses XHTML programming language and encourages service providers to charge directly for revenue. This has enabled content developers to create more than 41,000 sites.
Although Europeans already have internet access based on PC access, Mr Hirooka believes users still want to access the internet from mobiles.
He said NTT DoCoMo had no plans to launch its own i-mode service in Europe but would seek to provide other mobile carriers with its technology. He said it was up to Irish mobile phone operators to provide these types of services here.
It has been reported that one of NTT DoCoMo's partners, Hutchison Whampoa, may be interested in backing a bid for a third-generation (3G) licence here. NTT DoCoMo introduced the world's first mobile phone service (Foma) based on 3G technology, last month.
This service offers users internet access from mobile devices at speeds up to 40 times faster than existing technologies.
Mr Hirooka said the company had signed up 11,000 3G subscribers so far and expected to meet its target of 150,000 3G customers by March 2002.
He said the uncertain economic situation would not delay the uptake of the technology for long.
"The economic situation will not always go down. In that sense, I am an optimist," he added.
NTT DoCoMo recently boosted European operations with a development centre in Munich and a European headquarters in London. Mr Hirooka said it wanted to use the opportunity of speaking to firms in Dublin so some businesses "would get to know each another".
