NTT DoCoMo and SingTel will conduct a trial to test international roaming between their wi-fi services. The trial is aimed at verifying technologies and marketability under a plan to jointly launch a commercial international roaming service.
During the trial, DoCoMo and SingTel Mobile will share access to their respective Mzone and "Outdoor Wireless Surf" Wireless LAN services, which they currently offer at cafes and other locations to enable users to connect to the Internet via PDAs and notebooks equipped with Wireless LAN cards. DoCoMo's Mzone service is currently available at 216 locations in Japan and SingTel Mobile's Outdoor Wireless Surf service is available at more than 230 locations in Singapore.
To participate in the roaming trial, users from Japan must subscribe to DoCoMo's Mzone service and will be asked to answer questionnaires before and after the trial. There will be no charge for participation other than the regular basic fee for the Mzone service.
In April 2003, DoCoMo and SingTel Mobile agreed to collaborate in 3G mobile multimedia services based on WCDMA technology, including the joint study of advanced Wireless LAN services. Today's announcement is a part of this agreement.
The trial will be conducted from April to June 2004.
