Japan's largest mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, will license its industry-leading i-mode mobile Internet service to Australia's Telstra Corp Ltd, potentially boosting Telstra's revenues, sources close to the matter said today.
The two companies are expected to announce the deal as early as Thursday, the sources said.
Telstra, a former monopoly, is struggling to find growth in the mature domestic telecommunications market and faces growing competition from Singapore Telecommunications Optus unit, the second-largest carrier.
DoCoMo's five-year-old i-mode is an always-on Internet service that allows users to send e-mail, chat, play games, download ring tones and access content from more than 70,000 mobile Web sites.