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Hong Kong SmarTone: Hutchison-DoCoMo I-mode Service Not A Threat
HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Hong Kong mobile-phone carrier SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings said Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) partnership with NTT DoCoMo to launch an i-mode service in the territory won't be a threat to its business.
SmarTone Executive Director Patrick Chan said his company, which has more than a million subscribers in Hong Kong, has no plans to change its mobile-information platform because of Hutchison Telecom's plan to launch i-mode mobile Internet services in Hong Kong and Macau by the end of the year.
The i-mode service allows users fast access to Web sites customized for mobile phones. The service has more than 46 million subscribers in Japan, offering access to over 5,700 sites.
DoCoMo has formed similar i-mode alliances in Spain, Greece, the U.K., Taiwan, and Singapore.
"The number of sites doesn't mean anything, what's important is the quality of the content," said Chan.
He said SmarTone has no plan to change its mobile data platform, which offers users a diverse range of content bought from selected providers.
"As long as we provide good and useful information with stable and fast connection, end-users will find our platform useful," Chan said.
Unlike SmarTone's system, i-mode users can access independent content providers' Web sites directly.
"DoCoMo's i-mode is successful in Japan, but where else?" said Chan.
Chan added data revenue now accounts for more than 10% of SmarTone's average revenue per user, up from 8.7% at the end of last year.
Japan's biggest mobile phone company by subscribers will provide technology and marketing expertise to the i-mode service partnership with Hutchison Telecom.
The plan comes five years after DoCoMo, which holds 25% of Hutchison Telecom, first said it was considering bringing the i-mode service to Hong Kong.
-By Ernest Kong, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2802-7002; ernest.kong@dowjones.com
-Edited by Andrew Bullard
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 2nd June 2006