NTT DoCoMo looking for partners in Europe - report

FRANKFURT: NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone operator, is looking for

more European partners, its Chief Executive Keiji Tachikawa told German

financial daily Handelsblatt.

"We want partnerships with many mobile operators in Europe",

Tachikawa said. "We are most interested in the big markets France, Italy

and Spain." He did not comment on speculation about DoCoMo being interested

in one of the remaining French licences for third-generation (3G) mobile

telephony, or about it taking a stake in French Operator Bouygues, the paper

reported.

Germany is set to see the first launch of DoCoMo's mobile Internet service

I-mode outside Japan next year. I-Mode is a big success in Japan and DoCoMo is

seen as a leader in bringing data capabilities into cellphones. But Tachikawa

warned its German partner E-Plus, a unit of Dutch KPN, to rush into the market

prematurely.

"We know from our experience: If the services are limited, I-mode is not

attractive", Tachikawa said. "E-Plus must make sure that there are

enough handsets." E-Plus said it sticks to launching I-mode "step by

step", beginning in January 2002, according to the paper.

Tachikawa criticized the European mobile telecoms industry for being too slow

and lack of originality. "My concern is that Europeans are overemphasizing

voice telephony", he told the paper. "That's why they lag behind in

developing innovative services for the mobile internet."