(Kyodo News International via NewsEdge)NTT DoCoMo said it will recall smart cards fitted in 240,000 of its mobile phones because they could malfunction when used abroad, making it impossible for users to talk or access the i-mode Internet service.
DoCoMo will replace the cards with new ones free of charge to enable overseas calls and will ask its foreign partners, which offer Internet access to DoCoMo phones users traveling abroad, to take the necessary steps to prevent any trouble, Japan's largest mobile phone carrier said.
In such roaming services, Japanese cellphone customers traveling abroad use the services of local foreign access providers instead of contacting DoCoMo's access points in Japan.
Some foreign access providers transmit signals which do not conform to international 3GPP standards when trying to identify whether cellphones are DoCoMo phones or not. This causes DoCoMo phones to reject the signals and as a result voice calls or data transmission can become impossible, DoCoMo explained.
© 2007 Kyodo News International
© 2007 Dialog, a Thomson business. All rights reserved