The head of Japan's largest wireless operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. 9437.T on Tuesday said its U.S. partner AT&T Wireless Services Inc. AWE.N may launch DoCoMo's i-mode mobile Internet service later this year, although the timing will depend on AT&T Wireless.

"According to what I hear, they have plans to launch i-mode service perhaps this year," Keiji Tachikawa, president and chief executive of NTT DoCoMo, told Reuters in an interview at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. "I think 3G will be implemented starting next year 2003," he added.

NTT DoCoMo was the first wireless operator in the world to launch third-generation or 3G services in Japan last fall. 3G networks provide high-speed Internet access and are capable of features such as full-motion video and multimedia messaging.

DoCoMo's original i-mode service, which allows users to send e-mail and download restaurant or stock information to cell phones, is one of the biggest success stories in the world, garnering more than 30 million subscribers or 75 percent of its subscriber base as of December.

DoCoMo -- which means "anywhere" in Japanese -- has a 16 percent stake in AT&T Wireless, the nation's No. 3 wireless operator, and has a partnership with the company to roll out i-mode in the United States on AT&T Wireless' next-generation networks. It is controlled by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. 9432.T , Japan's dominant telecoms provider.

Tachikawa, speaking through an interpreter, said he believed U.S. consumers will be just as attracted to Internet services on cell phones as Japanese consumers despite the views of many U.S. analysts who believe DoCoMo succeeded in Japan for culture-specific reasons.

SIMPLE 3G FEATURES AT FIRST

"People talk about the difference of cultures, but I think there are many similarities beyond differences. That is why Japanese animated cartoons or games are accepted globally," he said.

At the same time, he said it was unlikely that the U.S. wireless industry would be able to interest consumers in complex 3G applications without introducing simpler features first.

In Japan, for example, customers were initially attracted by the ability to send e-mail, download the latest news, or retrieve stock or restaurant information. He said melodic ring tones and downloadable screen images also attracted consumers.

Tachikawa believes U.S. consumers will be drawn to using the mobile Internet through similar features.

"Even in Japan, when we were about to start the i-mode service, people were skeptical because nobody thought that users would use such services, but it turned out that this had a huge acceptance by the market," he said, referring to doubts here that consumers will pay for Internet services on their cell phones.

Of the 50,000 content features DoCoMo offers on its i-mode service, the company will introduce in the United States only the applications that it expects will be most attractive to Americans.

However, he pointed out that DoCoMo does not have an exclusive agreement with its application developers, so they would be free to form partnerships with other U.S. operators if they desired.

Tachikawa said the key to DoCoMo's success in Japan was due to the mutually beneficial relationships formed among itself, application developers and consumers.

"The triangle cannot be established if only one player succeeds," he said, adding that the same principle would apply in the United States.

American Depository Receipts of DoCoMo closed up 32 cents at $65.20 on the New York Stock Exchange, where they debuted early this month.