TOKYO-A press report has stated Japan’s NTT DoCoMo is in talks with AT&T Corp. regarding taking a minority stake in the U.S. carrier’s mobile-phone business.
NTT DoCoMo has said repeatedly it is interested in the United States and other foreign markets and would take a minority stake or partner with wireless carriers in international markets, similar to its acquisition earlier this year of a 15-percent stake in KPN Telecom of the Netherlands.
Speculation has also centered around talks with Cingular, the joint venture between SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. in the United States.
The Financial Times report said DoCoMo is considering taking a 10-percent to 20-percent stake in AT&T Wireless at a cost of $5 billion to $10 billion, based on the value of the U.S. company’s tracking stock.
AT&T announced last week it will divide into four business units and transfer its wireless tracking stock into common stock. AT&T Wireless operates a second-generation nationwide TDMA network in the United States and plans to evolve to EDGE technology, the same migration path for wideband-CDMA operators.
DoCoMo plans to launch its W-CDMA third-generation network next May and will be the first carrier in the world to offer 3G services.
