DoCoMo to pay AT&T 9 billion for 20% of AWE???
DoCoMo set for next global step with AT&T stake
(UPDATE: Updates with analyst comments)
By Jessica Hall and Reed Stevenson
NEW YORK/TOKYO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Japan's dominant mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo Inc , is set to grab a foothold in the U.S. market by purchasing up to a 20 percent stake in AT&T Wireless Group Inc (NYSE:AWE - news), industry sources said.
A deal worth up to $9 billion could be announced as early as next week, sources said in New York late on Tuesday.
AT&T and DoCoMo declined to comment.
The mobile phone companies, both subsidiaries of former monopolies in the world's two biggest telecoms markets, have been in talks for months, and expectations of an agreement have mounted in recent weeks.
DoCoMo, a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp and Japan's largest company by market capitalisation, has been seeking an entry into the U.S. market as it aims to take its cutting-edge mobile services technology overseas.
It has also been talking about a possible deal with Cingular, a wireless joint venture between U.S. local telephone companies BellSouth Corp (NYSE:BLS - news) and SBC Communications Inc (NYSE:SBC - news), sources said.
A DoCoMo official declined to comment on the talks, but said: ``We have been looking to the United States, along with Asia, as a very attractive market.''...
biz.yahoo.com |
