Telstra confirms plans to terminate i-mode

Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo announced Australian carrier Telstra will terminate its i-mode mobile web service on Dec. 10. The news follows reports British operator O2 also plans to dump i-mode, introduced by DoCoMo in 1999. While more than 90 percent of DoCoMo's 52.6 million domestic customers are i-mode subscribers, the service has attracted only 7.2 million users in 17 international markets outside of Japan.

After international sales contributed 0.7 percent of DoCoMo's total revenues in the previous fiscal year, chief financial officer Masayuki Hirata said in June the operator aims to increase that total to 10 percent within a decade, possibly by making acquisitions in China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In May, DoCoMo revoked Hutchison Essar's license to provide i-mode services in India after Vodafone Group agreed to buy a controlling stake in the carrier.

In a posting on its website, Telstra assured existing subscribers they will be able to initiate voice calls and text messages after i-mode data services are switched off. "Existing monthly subscriptions to i-mode content, like ringtone subscriptions, will not renew and your monthly fee will no longer be charged," Telstra said. No new content subscriptions will be available Nov. 10.

Telstra recommends i-mode subscribers with contracts slated to end before Dec. 10 wait until the end of the contract, and then "upgrade" to its Next G network. "Many of the benefits of i-mode have been built into our BigPond mobile services, available on the Next G network," Telstra added. "Access services like video calling, Foxtel by mobile, music and lots more ringtones and wallpapers."

For more on Telstra's i-mode exit:
- read this PC World article

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