Hutch partners Japan's NTT DoCoMo for i-mode

India's third largest mobile services provider Hutchison Essar today entered into a strategic alliance with Japan-based NTT DoCoMo to provide mobile Internet services to its customers.

DoCoMo will licence its patent technology i-mode to Hutch for offering mobile internet on GSM, GPRS and WCDMA networks, Asim Ghosh, of managing director of Hutchison Essar, said. The services will be launched next year.

To access Internet through the new technology, users would have to change their mobile handsets as the current phones in India do not have i-mode compatibility, he said.

"The new handsets will be priced competitively according to the Indian market," Ghosh said declining to reveal its exact price.

The company will initially import the i-mode-enabled handsets to the country, but is also open to talks with local handset manufacturers, Ghosh said.