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DoCoMo pulls plug on Hutch i-modeWhat a strange conclusion to Vodafone's triumph in the Indian mobile arena. It's landed the deal to take over Hutch (Hutchison Essar) but lost the rights to i-mode. In a very terse statement, Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo has pulled the plug on a deal announced back in December 2006. The aim had been to utilise DoCoMo's proprietary i-mode system to provide a mobile Internet service in India. Now that Vodafone has finally won out and taken control of Hutch, DoCoMo says Hutch has "agreed not to proceed" with i-mode. Which is a bit strange. Vodafone's Live! rival to i-mode has hardly set the world alight. But then i-mode – which is a whole eco-system rather than just a markup language- requires a fairly high level of commitment from its operators. After a whole heap of two-ing an fro-ing, the Indian government satisfied itself last week that its rules over foreign ownership of a telecoms company hadn't been breached. Even though Vodafone would still appear to have options to increase its stake.The full Inquirer story ... Vodafone deal with Hutch ends bizarrely |
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