OXFORD, United Kingdom-Now that NTT DoCoMo has a financial interest in a U.K. third-generation license holder, the prospect of i-mode mobile Internet services being deployed in Europe is firmly on the agenda. The Japanese operator earlier this year formed a joint venture, called 3G OpCo, with Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa, which won the U.K. license, and KPN Mobile of the Netherlands.
With this investment, NTT DoCoMo has now made it clear it intends to enter the 3G business in Europe and has stated it is looking for opportunities to increase its presence in France, Germany and Belgium. However, the prospect of an operator offering i-mode services, which have attracted more than 11 million users in Japan, against the unproven Wireless Application Protocol standard may cause many European operators to rethink their strategies.
However, the European Union, which has given NTT DoCoMo clearance to form the joint venture, could become involved considering i-mode is a proprietary technology, being owned and developed by NTT DoCoMo.
