HANOVER, March 12: A German telecommunications firm unveiled its version of “i-mode” mobile phone-based Internet service on Tuesday, giving the wildly popular Japanese technology its first test-run abroad.

“I-mode”, which has won more than 30 million customers in Japan since its launch in 1999, will hit the German market March 16, the German firm chief told reporters on the eve of the Cebit, the world’s largest high-tech fair.

The service allows mobile phone users to access a wide range of entertainment and information “pages” on the Internet including news sites, travel tips, maps, games, weather forecasts, stock updates, restaurant guides, maps and colour photographs that user can forward on to friends.

Subscribers can also exchange e-mails of about 1,000 characters each, one of its most popular features in Japan.

The company said he had not been deterred by the flop in Europe of so-called WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) service, which also provides Internet access on mobile phones but has won few fans with its gray display and painfully slow service.

“WAP is like a bicycle; i-mode is like a Rolls Royce,” an official boasted. “WAP couldn’t fulfil our expectations.”

I-mode runs on a later-generation technology, GPRS (General Packet Radio Services), which sports higher speeds, good-quality colour images and even tuneful music from the phone’s speakers.

The official also hit back at claims that the long commutes in the typical Japanese workday were the key factor fuelling i-mode’s spread in that country and lacking such circumstances in Germany, the service might not catch hold.

As the first truly multimedia Internet service on mobile phones in Europe, i-mode is also destined to be the product that tests readiness for the much-anticipated UMTS generation of cellular phones.

UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) offers the highest speeds for moving data on cellular phones, opening the door to a new range of services including the ability to play video clips.

European telecommunications companies have spent billions of dollars on UMTS licenses and most have announced the launch of the third generation services late this year.—AFP