A new service using mobile phones as "smart" tickets for trains operated by East Japan Railway Co. began Saturday.

The service, named Mobile Suica, combines the service of JR East's Suica IC card and mobile phone service offered by NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp.

Once customers pay for train fees or train passes online, they can go through JR wickets in and around Tokyo by just holding their handsets over card readers on the ticket gates, according to the railway.

The handsets will also be usable as electronic wallets as well as electronic movie tickets.

The service can be used in some areas in Miyagi and Niigata prefectures, where the Suica smart card system has been introduced, JR East said.

The service is also available at stations in the Kansai region where the ICOCA smart card service offered by West Japan Railway Co. and the PiTaPa smart card service offered by some private railway operators in the region are already in use.

However, because the Mobile Suica service settles its account through JR East's View Card credit card, customers who want to use Mobile Suica need to register with the credit card service first.

JR East expects 1 million people to use the service in the first year.