NTT DoCoMo and its eight regional subsidiaries announced that total subscribers to 2G and 3G i-mode mobile internet service in Japan surpassed 40 million on 30 October 2003, in about four and a half years since the service was launched on February 22, 1999.

As DoCoMo's proprietary mobile internet platform, i-mode has reinvented the cellular industry and continues to grow in popularity day by day. The service is now spreading around the world through licensing agreements between DoCoMo and foreign-based telecom operators.

Subscriptions for i-mode in Japan have grown as follows:
August 8, 1999 1 million
March 15, 2000 5 million
August 6, 2000 10 million
November 22, 2000 15 million
March 4, 2001 20 million
July 1, 2001 25 million
December 25, 2001 30 million
October 14, 2002 35 million
October 30, 2003 40 million