Japan’s Docomo has set up a new company with Omron Healthcare, a leading domestic manufacturer of medical devices and provider of home health services, to offer what it says is a wide range of healthcare services delivered via mobile phone.

The new company, which is two thirds owned by Docomo, is called Docomo Healthcare and will offer patient monitoring via the operator’s mobile network by linking patients’ smartphones with medical monitors such as blood pressure and sleep monitors. Readings are then uploaded to a cloud-based portal. The service will enable patients to be monitored remotely in their own homes.

Docomo will integrate its existing remote monitoring service called i Bodymo into the new company by early next year, it says. This service is targeted at the wellness market rather than patients with chronic conditions indicating that the Japanese operator wants to capture a wide demographic that also includes younger, healthy users. The operator says the new company will offer services for the “various stages of life”. It will do so by partnering with content providers including other healthcare firms, it says.

The i Bodymo service monitors physical activity and food intake. It was launched two years ago. It will be added to Docomo Healthcare by the end of March 2013. Similarly Omron will integrate its own Wellnesslink monitoring service into the new company.

Docomo’s existing strategy includes targeting older users and the new company will also fit with that approach.

Docomo Healthcare’s CEO is Hajime Takebayashi and the company is set up with capital of ¥1.3 billion. It is 66 percent owned by the Japanese operator with 34 percent held by Omron Healthcare.