O2 has deferred plans to launch i-mode in Germany, in a move that will raise questions about the mobile group’s commitment to its flagship mobile internet service.

O2 , which launched the service in the UK and Ireland two years ago, pledged then to roll out the offering in Germany in the first half of 2006.

But it now says that it is focusing on other priorities in Germany, such as a fixed-line broadband service.

O2 said the launch of i-mode in Europe’s biggest market was now “under review”, with a “possibility” that plans for a rollout there could be scrapped altogether.

In the UK and Ireland, O2 has amassed 546,000 i-mode subscribers – just 3 per cent of the total customer base in those markets.

A spokesman insisted that the group remained committed to the service, saying: “I-mode is performing in line with our expectations.”

O2 sealed a deal with NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese tele-coms giant, to use its i-mode sevice, in 2004.

The service was central to O2 ’s push to encourage mobile users to tap into lucrative data services on their mobiles instead of just calling and text messaging.

I-mode – which has been a huge success in Japan where it has enticed more than 45 million subscribers – allows users easy access to tailored internet sites.

They can book cinema tickets, for example, or surf for a weather forecast while on the move.

But outside Japan, where operators such as KPN, the biggest mobile operator in the Netherlands, Bouyges and Telstra are licensed to use the service, its performance has proved less conclusive.

According to DoCoMo’s website it has so far amassed just 6 million users in the 15 countries outside of Japan – including Australia, France, Russia, Belgium and the Netherlands – in which it is offered.

The slow uptake follows a wider reluctance of consumers to treat their mobiles as mini PCs. Calling and text messaging still account for the bulk of mobile operators’ revenues.

A launch of i-mode in Germany by O2 was initially hampered by legal wrangling with KPN, which also uses the service.

However the two agreed some time back a deal under which O2 could use the service so long as it did not use the i-mode name. O2 had said it would use the service under its own brand name instead.

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