Hutchison Essar, which is in the process of being acquired by Vodafone, had signed an agreement with NTT DoCoMo last December to launch an i-mode service in India during 2007. However, the Indian operator’s acquisition by Vodafone has changed Hutchison Essar’s strategic direction, and i-mode does not now feature.
Due to the changes in business environment, both companies concluded that it would be difficult to launch i-mode service at this time and agreed not to proceed, the companies said in a statement.
Despite the agreement, the move will be a blow for Japan’s largest mobile operator, which has been looking to globally roll out its wireless internet service that was launched in 1999. The service is popular in Japan, but has met with patchy enthusiasm in other parts of the world where it is licensed to other operators. It is thought to have 46.8 million customers in Japan and over 5 million in the rest of the world.
