TOKYO, JAPAN, July 10, 2003 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. and its eight regional subsidiaries announced today new measures to counter the growing number of spam mail being sent via the 
network. The initiatives, in which offenders will either have their DoCoMo services temporarily suspended or completely rescinded, are part of the company's continuous efforts in the fight against spam.
In the past, spam mail was mainly sent to i-mode handsets from personal computers via the internet. To prevent this, DoCoMo implemented various measures, asking users to restrict incoming e-mail by blocking or accepting mail only from designated sources (domains or e-mail addresses). The company also began blocking any e-mail sent to a large number of invalid e-mail addresses at the i-mode server.
While these measures have proven effective in substantially lowering the number of spam mail sent from PCs, there has been an alarming increase in the amount of spam mail individual subscribers receive from mobile phones, calling for stricter initiatives.
Acting on a customer complaint, DoCoMo will identify the spam mail source and deny the sender access to all DoCoMo services for a specified period of time. This will apply to all i-mode handsets registered in the spammer's name. If a second complaint is received from several users after the suspension, DoCoMo will rescind the spammer's subscription for all registered handsets.
DoCoMo will continue to share information it receives regarding spam with other mobile operators, encouraging them to implement similar steps to eliminate spam mail. DoCoMo is committed to protecting the convenience and usefulness of mobile internet services for all customers, and will continue to aggressively promote effective anti-spam measures.
About NTT DoCoMoNTT DoCoMo is the world's leading mobile communications company with more than 46 million customers. The company provides a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services. These include i-mode, the world's most popular mobile internet service, which provides e-mail and internet access to over 38 million subscribers, and
, launched in 2001 as the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. In addition to wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe and North and South America, the company is expanding its global reach through strategic alliances with mobile and multimedia service providers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North and South America. NTT DoCoMo is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM), and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit www.docomo.ne.jp/english
i-mode and FOMA are registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries.
