NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Wednesday it has reached an accord with a Dutch firm to license its popular i-mode technology services to the Dutch telecommunications group for 10 years to Jan. 1, 2012.
Under the accord, KPN Mobile N.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of holding company Koninklijke KPN NV, will sublicense the technology to wholly owned subsidiaries KPN Mobile The Nederlands B.V. and KPN Orange Belgium NV/SA, enabling them to launch i-mode-style mobile Internet services in the Netherlands and Belgium, the Tokyo-based company said.
The services, the first of their kind in Europe, will be launched as early as the April-June quarter next year, NTT DoCoMo said. Similar services have been available in Hong Kong since May 2000.
"Today's agreements are expected to promote both the rapid proliferation of mobile multimedia services and the early realization of third-generation services in the European market," NTT DoCoMo said in a press release.
NTT DoCoMo said it will collect licensing fees from this Dec. 7 to Jan. 1, 2012.
Subscribers to KPN Mobile services in the Netherlands and in Belgium will have access to a variety of contents and mobile Internet services, including "stock prices, ticket reservations, restaurant guides, online games and more, using cellular phones equipped with dual browsers for i-mode-compatible HTML and WML1.X," the company said.
As of the end of September, subscribers to KPN Mobile services are estimated at 5.21 million in the Netherlands and 900,000 in Belgium.