ASIA : By BWCS : NTT DoCoMo is to start selling Nokia handsets, again, in a bid to catch up with rival KDDI in the market for next generation mobile phone customers. The Finns, who supplied phones for DoCoMo's second- generation network between 1995 and 2000, will start shipping 3G handsets to Japan in early October of this year.

DoCoMo is being pushed hard in the 3G market by KDDI's au mobile service. The giant operator says it expects the number of users on its 3G FOMA service to more than double to 24.2 million in the current financial year. At the beginning of last month, DoCoMo had 12.2 million 3G subscribers; compared to KDDI's 18.2 million and Vodafone KK's 1.1 million. In a bid to recapture some of this lost ground, DoCoMo says it is in need of new and cheaper handsets.

The Japanese company is already offering a model made by US vendor Motorola that offers functions similar to a handheld computer. To date however, it has been domestic producers that have ruled the roost in Japan with "foreign" models proving less popular with consumers.

KDDI, which offers customers some phones from SonyEricsson, has already said that it plans to offer five new phones, all made by domestic manufacturers. These will include a mobile handset for TV viewing and one that relays music to external audio equipment such as car stereos.

DoCoMo aims to offer less expensive phones for its 3G service, which it expects to make up about 40% of the market for all 3G handsets by the end of this year. Cheaper models, like the FOMA700i series made by domestic makers such as Sharp and NEC Corp are already on sale at lower prices than the majority of 3G phones.

Earlier this month, DoCoMo reported its first quarterly

Source BWCS