The number of subscribers to NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s i-mode mobile phone service has topped 20 million, reaching the mark only two years after it began, NTT DoCoMo said Monday.

As of Sunday, the tally of i-mode handsets stood at 20.01 million, the mobile communications arm of NTT Corp. said.

Launched on Feb. 22, 1999, the innovative service allows customers to send and receive e-mail and access tens of thousands of Web sites designed to accommodate the compact screens in the palm-size handsets.

The term i-mode is now almost synonymous with mobile phone-based Web access, although other Japanese companies offer similar services.

NTT DoCoMo plans to kick off i-mode services associated with European-language Web sites in European countries by the end of this year.

The subscriber base for i-mode is still soaring at a rate of 40,000-50,000 new users a day, company officials said.

The number of NTT DoCoMo's mobile phone users -- including nonsubscribers to the i-mode service -- totaled 34.68 million units as of Jan. 31.

This means that about 60 percent of NTT DoCoMo's mobile phone customers subscribe to i-mode.

The i-mode service is expected to be offered as a pivotal part of a next-generation, higher-performance mobile service that NTT DoCoMo plans to start in late May in Japan, firm officials said.