NTT DoCoMo rolling out Home Mobile Data/VoIP service

NTT DoCoMo has announced Home U, a service to enable the carriers' FOMA 3G handsets to connect to home broadband networks via wireless LAN routers.  In June, FOMA handset users will be able to make VoIP calls to other Home U users free of charge while calls made to non-Home U users will be 30 percent cheaper than normal FOMA charges.

Initially, the service will be compatible with the N906iL onefone, a dual-mode handset that will be sold from the day the service starts.  Monthly cost will be 1,029 yen per month; a bit less than $10 a month. No signup fees will be required.

With more than half of their 51 million customers signed up for the FOMA 3G service and Japanese consumers willing to change phones at the drop of a hat, NTT should be able to gauge the success of the new offering in relatively short order.

Observers will also be interested to see how the home FMC offering will match up to forthcoming femtocell services currently being tested Japan by Softbank and others.

For more:
- NTT's Home Mobile Data/VoIP Service announcement

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