NTT DoCoMo Aims To Boost 3G Service With Cheaper Handsets

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- NTT DoCoMo Inc. (9437.TO) aims to boost the number of subscribers to its third-generation mobile phone service by lowering its handset prices, a company official said Thursday.

Japan's largest mobile phone service operator will start selling the "FOMA F700i" handset manufactured by Fujitsu Ltd. (6702.TO) on Feb. 10.

NTT DoCoMo will later launch three more models of the 700i series made by NEC Corp. (6701.TO), Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. and Sharp Corp. (6753.TO).

The retail prices of 700i handsets will be "about Y10,000 lower" than the currently available 900i series handsets, an NTT DoCoMo spokeswoman said.

The company said it doesn't have any official sales target for the 700i handsets, but it hopes to have more users of the second-generation handsets switch to the 3G phones which offer real-time video phone calls on top of services already available with the second-generation handsets, such as access to i-Mode data.

The 700i handsets don't carry some of the functions available on the 900i phones including electronic money. The resolution of the digital cameras on the 700i is also lower, but part of the Y10,000 cut in the prices is likely to be shouldered by the manufacturers.

At the end of December, NTT DoCoMo had 84,992 subscribers for its 3G service dubbed "FOMA," accounting for 18% of its mobile phone service subscribers.

-Kazuhiro Shimamura, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929; kazuhiro.shimamura@dowjones.com
-Edited by Shawn Schroter

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 3rd February 2005