HONDURAS
Motorola Inc. sold its entire equity stake in Honduran wireless carrier Celtel. Millicom International Cellular said it acquired part of the stake from Motorola, bringing Millicom’s ownership to two-thirds of the total outstanding shares. Local minority shareholders purchased the remaining Motorola stake. The value of the deals was not disclosed. Millicom previously held 50 percent of Celtel, which is the largest of two wireless carriers in Honduras, according to the RCR Wireless News Worldwide Carrier Chart.
CHINA
Japanese telecommunications giant NTT DoCoMo Inc. said it plans to extend international roaming services and FOMA international videophone service to China, Qatar and South Korea. The Chinese expansion began last month using China Mobile Communications Corp.’s local network. The service allows DoCoMo’s World Wing and World Walker users to browse both i-mode and Web sites in addition to using existing services for voice and short messaging service. The Qatar roaming service, which began May 30, uses Qatar Telecom Q.S.C.’s network and provides for voice and SMS communications. The South Korea expansion will enable FOMA video-phone users who subscribe to DoCoMo’s World Call service to place video-phone calls with KT Freetel Co. Ltd. customers in South Korea beginning June 11. DoCoMo said it now offers voice-roaming capabilities in 125 countries, i-mode packet communications roaming in 35 countries and international videophone communications in five countries.
TAIWAN
Taiwan Mobile has launched third-generation service using a W-CDMA network supplied by Nokia Corp., according to the Finnish vendor. The initial service is branded “catch 3! catch your eyes!” with a full-service implementation scheduled later. Taiwan Mobile, formerly TCC Group, serves 6 million mobile subscribers and includes three operators: Taiwan Mobile, TransAsia Telecommunications and Mobitai Communications.
