i-mode Comes To Italy

Europe : NTT DoCoMo and Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A., Italy's number one provider of integrated telecommunications services combining fixed-line, mobile and Internet services, today announced that they have started a strategic i-mode™ partnership in the Italian market.

The partnership between DoCoMo and Wind represents a meeting of two leading companies in the telecommunications market, adding Wind's experience in the development of innovative services and its unique mobile broadband to a series of European alliances forged by DoCoMo. As a result of this partnership with Wind, DoCoMo will have the opportunity to deliver the i-mode service it developed to Europe's most competitive mobile market.

The exclusive licensing agreement signed for this partnership, under which Wind is to launch the i-mode service in Italy, will enable Wind to consolidate its role as the number one innovator in the Italian domestic market, leading the way in the value added services segment.

The agreement also introduces Wind into the i-mode alliance, the group led by DoCoMo that comprises all the operators that have launched i-mode, and that offers its members the opportunity to market handsets specially adapted for their own services.

Through its provision of i-mode, Wind will create a range of services never before seen in the Italian market, allowing Wind customers to: Access Internet services with a wide variety of content on their mobile phone
Choose among a wide range of innovative and multifunctional handsets
Participate in the i-mode alliance group

Wind's i-mode services will also include a complete offering of applications, providing a high degree of quality for customers, thanks to the DoJa technology, co-developed by DoCoMo and Sun Microsystems, Inc.

The agreement, which will remain in place for five years from June 2003, is renewable by mutual accord and is an exclusive contract with Wind in Italy for 4 years for Wind's 2G and 3G. According to the terms of this agreement, Wind is to offer the i-mode service on its GPRS network, with know-how, technologies, trademarks and expert assistance to be provided by DoCoMo.

Thanks to mobile broadband, Wind's customers are the only users in Italy to have access to a vast range of Internet content directly on their mobile handsets. Over the coming months, Wind and DoCoMo will work together to see if it is feasible to integrate the i-mode service with the Value Added Services already offered by Wind and content from the Libero portal (www.libero.it).

The i-mode system is also an open platform, enabling users to freely access and navigate through the main portals, and offering an advanced system that allows content and service providers to give mobile users simple and easy-to-use access to their services.

As occurred in Japan with DoCoMo, Wind believes that its adoption of the i-mode system will attract a large number of content providers, who will be free to develop their own applications, and market them over Wind's i-mode platform, creating the basis for a new and innovative business segment.

Finally, the partnership between Wind and DoCoMo will make it possible for Wind to join the i-mode alliance through such services as i-mode roaming by Wind's participation in the international network formed by the other European operators who use the service: Bouygues Telecom S.A. in France, E-Plus Mobilfunk GmbH&Co.KG in Germany, KPN Mobile The Netherlands B.V. in the Netherlands and BASE N.V./S.A. in Belgium.

Wind believes that the first i-mode services in Italy will be offered by the end of 2003. Wind customers equipped with an i-mode handset will be able to navigate the i-mode portal and the sites created by the operator's official content providers, surf all i-mode compatible sites and enjoy integrated access to their e-mail on Libero.

Moreover, Wind plans to make its i-mode services available over its 3G network together with those already marketed over Wind's GPRS system in the future.