DoCoMo pushes for wider mobile Internet uses

Third-generation (3G) wireless proponent NTT DoCoMo is pushing for a broad international co-operation that aims to extend mobile Internet applications to as many facets of human activity as possible. This strategy is led by the Japanese network operator's recently formed Ubiquitous Business Department, headed by senior vice-president Tamon Mitsuishi. Outside of Japan, NTT DoCoMo is expected to tap applications development in markets where it plans to establish or has existing partnerships with cellular service providers. Current partners include Hutchison Telecom, KG Telecom of Taiwan, KPN Mobile in the Netherlands, Germany's E-Plus, Bouygues Telecom of France, Belgium's Base, and Telefonica Moviles in Spain. 'We have an open door, since we are keen on having as many partners as we can to develop new consumer and business applications,' says Mr Mitsuishi. 'Ubiquity, for us, means enabling consumers to have a richer lifestyle and increasing opportunities for doing business through the mobile Internet.' This policy follows the way NTT DoCoMo has been able to widen the use of Internet-linked mobile-phones in Japan through its pioneering i-mode service. Since its launch in February 1999, i-mode has amassed more than 35 million subscribers, or about a quarter of Japan's total population. NTT DoCoMo has more than 44 million total subscribers to date. This makes it one of the world's leading cellular operators. Its i-mode service is built on Japan's unique Personal Digital Communications (PDC) platform, a second-generation wireless communications system that allows for packet data-based calls at a top speed of 9.6 kilobits per second. This set-up has allowed subscribers to have continuous access to the NTT DoCoMo network, from which their i-mode-compatible cellular phones or personal digital assistants are connected to the i-mode applications menu sites, other Web sites and various online services. People of all ages in Japan use i-mode not just for voice communications and sending e-mail, but also in activities such as playing online games, reading the news, checking share prices, downloading pictures, and even buying a drink from vending machines. Besides having many devices to access i-mode services, NTT DoCoMo has attracted so many subscribers because it has kept prices down, with charges based on the volume of data transmitted, not on the time spent connected. Similar services offered by Japanese cellular operator rivals J-Phone and KDDI have become almost as successful. NTT DoCoMo has led its competitors in rolling out 3G wireless services with its Freedom of Mobile multimedia Access (FOMA) network in October last year. FOMA extends the i-mode service in more high-speed wireless data scenarios. This new network is based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology, a 3G system backed by worldwide standards overseer the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and supports wireless data applications at speeds of 384Kbps and higher. NTT DoCoMo has also moved ahead in establishing what Mr Mitsuishi describes as 'a pervasive mobile Internet approach' because of the company's 2G and 3G experience. In Japan, that means extending demand for mobile Internet market applications from about 120 million subscribers to a total of 570 million possible connections, says Mr Mitsuishi. Those figures were based on NTT DoCoMo's traditional market data sources, such as reports from the government's Economic and Social Research Institute and InfoCom Research, as well as non-traditional sources such as the Pet Food Manufacturers Association. Mr Mitsuishi says NTT DoCoMo's Ubiquitous Business Department, where he serves as executive manager, covers a much larger area of operation than cellular service providers are commonly known to focus on. NTT DoCoMo's potential mobile Internet market demand now includes connecting as many as 100 million vehicles, 90 million cable television set-top boxes, 60 million bicycles, 50 million notebook personal computers, 50 million video cameras and digital cameras, 40 million refrigerators, 30 million parcel and door-to-door delivery service operations, 20 million pet cats and dogs, and 10 million vending machines, motorcycles, ships and other devices. Mr Mitsuishi says these broad sets of activities mean that NTT DoCoMo needs to establish partnerships with companies and applications developers involved in any number of the specific fields that its Ubiquitous Business Department covers. Early this month, NTT DoCoMo and carmaker Nissan Motor jointly set up the Business Telematics Working Committee: a cross-industry group that will develop business models incorporating mobile multimedia systems and so-called telematics services, mainly targeting the car leasing companies. The two companies will manage the committee, which will begin its work next month. They will focus on opportunities to develop telematics systems services that would combine on-board devices with 3G or conventional PDC mobile communications technologies for vehicle-based information services. The main task of this committee is to decide what types of information would be most suitable and how these should be transmitted. Next month, the committee will begin devising transmission tests so that it can draw up specific telematics services around April. Commercial services are planned to be introduced late next year or in 2004. Under the planned system, leased cars would be equipped with a mobile communications device to transmit information between the cars and other service providers. This system would connect the vehicles with car-leasing companies, but also with insurance, maintenance, security and other related companies as well as with mobile Internet content providers. Possible business models include the provision of driver and passenger information, such as navigation, traffic, weather and restaurant and hotel locations, and business-related information, such as vehicle performance conditions and maintenance data. Mr Mitsuishi says the biggest opportunity lies in more personal, consumer-related applications, including mobile Internet-linked monitoring applications for the elderly and household pets, home security systems and automated settlement for vending machine and store purchases. NTT DoCoMo, for instance, has launched a culturally unique i-pot service in Japan. Using the i-mode platform, this service allows people at work to track how much the elderly at home uses the commonplace hot water pot dispenser. Mr Mitsuishi says he is used to people being critical about initiatives, such as i-pot, which are dismissed as trivial or unnecessary. He says he received almost the same response in 1974 when he helped usher the development of car-phone systems as an engineer at fixed-line network operator and NTT DoCoMo parent firm, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. 'Back then, some people said mobile phones were not necessary because there were many payphones to use.' According to ITU estimates, about three-quarters of Japan's installed base of 76 million cellular phone users as of June this year are using mobile Internet services like i-mode.