NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Friday the trial service of its next-generation mobile phone service launched Wednesday experienced e-mail server problems from 6 p.m. Thursday until 12:30 p.m. Friday.
The 4,500 people who received the mobile phones on a free-rental basis, mainly in Tokyo and Yokohama, were unable to receive e-mail because of trouble with a device that determines whether e-mail is to be sent to the next-generation phones or ordinary cellular phones.
The glitch also affected 23 million subscribers of DoCoMo's current i-mode service.
The service promises electronic data transmission at between 64 kilobits per second and 384 kbps -- six to 40 times faster than current service.
DoCoMo hopes to launch the service commercially Oct. 1, initially limiting its coverage to a 30-km radius from the center of Tokyo. Current plans call for the service to be extended to Osaka and Nagoya in December and to other cities next spring.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.