SYDNEY, Australia-Australia’s leading wireless carrier said it will license i-mode technology from NTT DoCoMo Inc. in the Japanese carrier’s ninth partnership for the wireless Internet technology.
Telstra is licensing the i-mode brand, technology and patents. Financial details were not disclosed.
“Telstra will work with content partners and developers, both locally and internationally, to enable their services to become commercially available to Australian subscribers of i-mode,” said Ted Pretty, Telstra Group managing director.
The announcement is unique in that Telstra is the first i-mode licensee to operate both GSM and CDMA networks. To date, DoCoMo has licensed i-mode technology only to GSM-based carriers.
E-Plus in Germany, KPN Mobile in the Netherlands, Base in Belgium, Bouygues Telecom in France, Telefonica Moviles in Spain, Wind Telecomunicazioni in Italy, Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications in Greece and Far EasTone in Taiwan also license i-mode technology.