NEC just announced that it supplied the Mobile Internet Platform for O2’s forthcoming i-mode service; operations are scheduled to start this autumn in the UK and Ireland. “We are pleased with NEC as the provider of our i-mode platform, which we believe will offer our customers a whole range of new data services when we launch – furthering O2’s data services leadership position in our markets,” said Dave Williams, Group CTO of O2.
Dilithium Networks, the leading supplier of 3G multimedia solutions, announced today that Vodafone Spain has selected the DTG 2000 multimedia gateway for delivery of enhanced 3G services across mobile and IP networks. The system will extend the capabilities of Vodafone Spain’s 3G mobile network and enable seamless real time conversational video telephony calling to personal computers over broadband networks. The advent of 3G video telephony services are an important differentiator to 3G operators planning to migrate their user base to higher revenue generating services. The DTG 2000 performs all the necessary negotiation and mediation between network entities and client devices to allow effortless communications across network boundaries.
NTT DoCoMo just announced that Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), NTT DoCoMo’s partner in Russia, began offering i-mode services in the Moscow and St. Petersburg areas as of today. Services will eventually be expanded to other business areas of MTS. Russia’s i-mode is being offered via MTS’s GPRS network and represents the twelfth global market for i-mode, following Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Australia and Israel (in order of introduction). MTS is Russia’s leading mobile operator both in terms of subscribers and profitability, according to the DoCoMo press release.
Toshiba Corp. is to reintroduce 2G mobile phones in the European market in October to benefit from strong local demand for such handsets, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing company sources. Toshiba has been overhauling its overseas cell phone business as part of efforts to reduce losses from the handset division. In fiscal 2004, the company withdrew from the 2G handset business in North America and China because of poor local sales.
O2 has promised its new found love for the i-mode data platform won’t see it kill off its own portal, O2 Active, which is based on WAP. Grahame Riddell, O2’s head of mobile data marketing, said the network has no plans to kill off O2 Active. “We will continue to support O2 Active and enhance its capabilities going forward,” he said. However, i-mode will be sold as the ‘premium’ data service alongside SMS.
Japanese telco NEC and Siemens Communications announced that they are assisting Hutchison 3G Ireland in deploying its W-CDMA/UMTS 3G network. The announcement represents the eighth Hutchison 3G network deployment that NEC and Siemens have been involved in. NEC and Siemens are the suppliers of 3G network solutions to Hutchison 3G in Austria, Hong Kong, Italy and the UK as well.
NaviTime Japan have announced that their overseas map retrieval service will be available as of 1 August in the UK, France, Germany and the US. Running on the i-Mode and v-Live menus, Japanese tourists will be able to determine the best guided directions from a car, a subway or on a walking route. The firm said the service, offering event information such as sports, theater and festivals along with hotel info in the target travel destination, allows users to confirm sightseeing, restaurant and store locations from their local maps.
NEC Corp plans to enter the 3G mobile phone infrastructure market in Russia, which will begin commercialization of 3G mobile phone service in 2006, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, citing NEC chairman Hajime Sasaki. NEC will compete for their orders against Nokia Corp, Telefon AB LM Ericsson and other European companies to supply base stations and base station controllers, the Nikkei said.
NEC announced today that it has received orders of Mobile Internet Platform and mobile handsets for Mobile TeleSystems (MTS)’s i-mode(TM) service. MTS Russia’s largest mobile phone operator in Russia and CIS which is currently holding over 40 million subscribers and over 35% market share. i-mode operation in Russia is scheduled to start in September 2005, and further operation is scheduled in Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Belarus in the future. Expansion of high-level functionality for the mobile Internet services in Russia is moving forward, and advanced and rich services are becoming a reality in near future. “Russia is one of the important markets for NEC.” said Noboru Wakita, Senior General Manager of NEC’s Mobile Solutions Operations Unit.
ACCESS announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with France Telecom for the joint development of a complete wireless Internet solution based on ACCESS’ products and services. This R&D partnership will enable both companies to collaboratively design and deploy innovative, rich media mobile Internet technologies for France Telecom mobile customers. The R&D department of France Télécom and ACCESS are committed to leveraging resources and sharing expertise to develop products based on the NetFront browser framework. The technologies that will be supported within the browser framework include SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), streaming video, SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language), and other rich media and animation technologies.
