>From the morning Nikkei:
DoCoMo To Open Up I-Mode Network To Other ISPs In December
TOKYO (Nikkei)--NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437) has decided to open its i-mode
Internet-compatible cellular phone network to other Internet service
providers in December, months ahead of an earlier target, company
sources said Wednesday.
Intended to silence criticism of the firm's market dominance, the move
will pave the way for Japanese ISPs to start offering news content as
well as e-mail and online banking services to users of Net-compatible
cell phones.
President Keiji Tachikawa previously announced that the firm would open
up its network in spring 2003.
DoCoMo will post the specifications and procedures by which other ISPs
can connect to the i-mode network on its Web site this weekend. It is
spending 7-8 billion yen to develop the exchanger needed for such
connections. The exchanger is to be installed in December.
After about three months of test runs and content preparations, other
ISPs should be able to start their own services as early as the second
half of 2003.
I-mode subscribers can now access about 2,400 DoCoMo-approved Web sites
through the i-menu portal. Once the network is opened, other major ISPs,
including Nifty Corp. and NEC Corp.'s (6701) Biglobe, will be able to
provide their services through their own portals. Even the largest of
these ISPs has only an estimated 5 million subscribers, making the
i-mode network's more than 30 million subscribers an attractive market
for these entrants, which will be free to set their own fee schedules
for their services.
Kyle
X-9 DESIGN LAB
http://www.X-9.com
Received on Fri Jan 25 03:06:59 2002