IT-Review

Strategic Partnership for i-mode in Russia

NTT DoCoMo and Mobile TeleSystems OJSC have formed an exclusive strategic partnership under which MTS will launch i-mode in Russia and other CIS countries. As a result of this agreement, i-mode will become available through 13 operations.

This long-term agreement will allow MTS to offer i-mode services to its customers in Russia via its GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks. MTS plans to introduce i-mode in Russia before December 2005.

In addition, MTS and DoCoMo will cooperate on the introduction of i-mode services in the other markets of the CIS in which MTS either maintains subsidiaries or manages operations. Under this agreement, i-mode services will be deployed in the Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Belarus.

Already the world's most popular mobile Internet platform since its launch in 1999 in Japan, i-mode has more than 45 million subscribers using over 6,100 official content sites in 10 countries and regions. Subscribers have access to a large variety of Internet services, e-mail, and other applications through a wide range of innovative, multifunctional handsets developed specially for i-mode partners around the world.

The i-mode service is provided on an open platform based on de facto Internet standards. It has proven attractive to content and application providers, stimulating a vibrant content market with thousands of sites for customers to choose from. This agreement allows MTS to draw on its international experience to bring one of the world's leading services to consumers in Russia and the CIS.

Source: press release

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