Local mobile phone operator, KG Telecommunications Co Ltd (
"We will bring a successful mobile data communication platform from NTT DoCoMo to Taiwan in the middle of next year, providing entertainment and interactive information via handsets," said Leslie Koo (
NTT DoCoMo Inc is the largest mobile phone operator in Japan, and its i-mode service has more than 24 million users.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
DoCoMo took two seats on KG Telecom's board after buying a 20 percent stake in the firm for NT$17.1 billion at the end of 2000. Then in June of this year, DoCoMo injected another NT$1.87 billion to raise its share to 21.4 percent.
Taking advantage of this relationship, KG Telecom will import and customize an "i-mode like" service for Taiwan, according to the company.
"DoCoMo offers us experience and knowledge in managing mobile Web sites, developing business models, and consulting on technology," said Roger Chen (
KG Telecom has aligned with 160 content providers in Taiwan and employed the same business model as DoCoMo, Chen said.
That model involves a basic monthly usage fee for the customized package of content users choose, plus actual air-time fees.
According to KG Telecom, 91 percent of the monthly content subscription fees go to content providers, with the majority of profits expected to come from air- time fees.
However, one content provider said that the method of calculation does little to add subscribers.
"If our commissions can be extracted from the air-time rather than from the subscription fees, we can attract more subscribers," said Sarah Yeh (
The company has cooperated with Taiwan Cellular Corp (
The key is to standardize screen sizes, Koo said.
"The main reason behind i-mode's attractive content is its standardized screen size, which enables content providers to design content to exactly match the screen," Koo said.
Koo said the company would launch its "`i-mode like' handsets together with phone service."
He refused to elaborate on which handset manufacturers would cooperate with the plan.
One telecom pundit said that the success of the service will depend on market positioning.
"DoCoMo popularized the service largely because of its market dominance," said Alex Wu (
"The service can help content providers make money -- breaking the myth of free Internet usage," Wu said.
Another industry watcher said at least two major sources of content are necessary for the service to become popular. "Entertainment material draws teenagers, and heavy users, such as businesspeople, want information," said Nathan Lin (林宗賢), a telecom analyst at National Securities Corp (建宏證券).
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