3G FOMA subscribers top 5 million mark

July 20, 2004

NTT DoCoMo announced on Tuesday that the number of subscribers to DoCoMo's 3G FOMA service surpassed the five million mark yesterday, reaching the figure in less time than it took to make the leap from three to four million subscribers at the end of this past May.

DoCoMo attributes the rapid increase to the growing popularity of its latest 3G models in the 900i series, as well as its enhanced service area. During the past two months, DoCoMo released the P900iV, D900i, and N900iS models, as well as the Bluetooth-capable F900iT.

FOMA service reached 99.7% of populated areas by the end of June. The number of indoor base stations has increased to about 2000, which includes all subway stations within both the Tokyo Metro and Toei subway networks.

In addition, DoCoMo began fixed rate data packet transmission service for FOMA users on June 1, which offers users unlimited access to i-mode mobile internet service.

To make the FOMA service an increasingly indispensable tool in everyday life, DoCoMo will continue to enhance FOMA value through new features such as a mobile wallet service for electronic money transactions using the soon to be released F900iC handsets, the company's first-ever i-mode FOMA handset series equipped with a smart-card.