COSMOTE exclusively introduces i-mode®[1]in Romania, significantly enhancing its value added services portfolio, only a year and a half after launching commercial operations and a month after reaching the two million customers milestone. i-mode was presented during a press conference in Bucharest today in the presence of COSMOTE Romania CEO, N. Tsolas, COSMOTE Group CEO, E. Martigopoulos, and NTT DoCoMo Senior Vice President and Multimedia Services Department Managing Director, Mr. Takeshi Natsuno.

The launch of i-mode in Romania is the result of the close cooperation between COSMOTE Romania, COSMOTE in Greece and its strategic partner NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile operator in Japan, following a successful track record with nearly 55 million i-mode users in 16 countries around the globe. COSMOTE successfully launched i-mode in Greece in June 2004 and almost a year later the company introduced i-mode over 3G, while the services are also available in Bulgaria through GLOBUL, COSMOTE’s subsidiary, as of September 2006.

i-mode is a user-friendly service allowing customers to easily access, at high speed, an extensive variety of thematic content as well as applications, such as e-mail, at affordable prices. It is available through state of the art, easy to use handsets, provided exclusively by COSMOTE.  

COSMOTE Romania introduces i-mode with 63official i-mode sites, in cooperation with prominent and well-known content providers, both local and international, some of which have also partnership agreements with COSMOTE for the Greek i-mode. Upon launch, the company offers four advanced i-mode handsets, Sony Ericsson K550im, Samsung S401i, LG L343i and Sagem my401Ci. Consistent with COSMOTE’s commitment for accessible to all communication, the Romanian i-mode  combines top quality with affordable prices, offering competitive tariffs for daily or monthly access to the service. COSMOTE, in order for all its customers to become familiar with the new service, offers free i-mode navigation access plus free subscriptions to all i-mode sites until June 30 ^th .

i-mode is available to all COSMOTE Romania customers, both prepaid and postpaid, through the company’s extensive distribution network of 770 stores nationwide, including COSMOTE Romania own shops, GERMANOS, Romtelecom, Internity and exclusive independent dealers.

With the introduction of i-mode in the Romanian market, COSMOTE dynamically enters the advanced data services sector, thus further enhancing its competitive positioning in Romania and continuously growing market share.

COSMOTE Romania CEO, Mr. Nikolaos Tsolas, commented: “COSMOTE Romania, during its first 16 months of commercial operations, has managed to revolutionise the domestic mobile market through its relevant, simple and accessible products & services. With the launch of i-mode, COSMOTE proves that is the best choice for mobile users by bringing them a technologically advanced service that is fascinating, easy to use to use and affordable”.

COSMOTE Group CEO, Mr. Evangelos Martigopoulos, respectively said: “Following Greece and Bulgaria, i-mode finds its way to Romania, a large, dynamically growing market, with significant potential. I am confident that the introduction of i-mode will further enhance COSMOTE Romania’s market appeal”.           

About COSMOTE Romania

COSMOTE Romania, member of COSMOTE Group, launched its commercial operations in Romania in December 2005, with the aim of making mobile telephony accessible to all Romanians. In only 16 months of successful operations in Romania, COSMOTE exceeded 2 million customers, with a spectacular growth of 1 million new additions in only four months. The company’s rapid growth demonstrates the effectiveness of its commercial strategy and indicates Romanians’ increasing preference and trust for the COSMOTE brand. For more information, please visit www.cosmote.ro .

1. i-mode is a trademark or registered trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries.