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To: foundation who wrote (30812)	1/7/2003 6:58:22 AM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 197227

Moody's cuts DoCoMo outlook on 3G fears By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo Published: January 7 2003 9:33 \| Last Updated: January 7 2003 9:33 news.ft.com Moody's, the credit rating agency, on Tuesday cut its ratings outlook for NTT DoCoMo, Japan's dominant mobile phone operator, because of concerns over company's fledgling third-generation phone service. Moody’s cut its outlook on DoCoMo’s senior long-term debt to "negative" from "stable", citing concern over the future of the Foma 3G service. DoCoMo "may face greater challenges in securing for Foma the solid market position it has achieved for its 2G services," said Moody's. "This, in turn, means that the company's ability to generate stable and exceptionally rich cash flow may also be increasingly challenged over the intermediate term." DoCoMo launched the world's first 3G wideband CDMA service in October with much fanfare. But the debut of Foma has been lacklustre at best, gaining only 149,000 subscribers by the end of November. While Foma offers faster transmission speed and superior voice quality, the service still has technical problems and limitations that make it far less reliable than less advanced phones. The battery life of Foma handsets is extremely short and coverage is limited. Even in Tokyo there are many places where connection is impossible and access is frequently interrupted. The 150g video phone is also considered too heavy. Moody's also cited DoCoMo's overseas investment losses of ¥1,400bn ($11.7bn) over the past two years. The company has written off 75 per cent of its original ¥1,800bn investment in AT&T Wireless, KPN Mobile and Hutchison 3G UK. DoCoMo invested in the companies in a bid to expend its W-CDMA network worldwide, but such moves have since been delayed due to soft demand. DoCoMo hopes that with the support of corporate users, and as the network is rolled out nationally to cover 97 per cent of the Japanese population by 2004, subscriber numbers will rise to 6m. DoCoMo's shares closed up 1.8 per cent to ¥233,000, ahead of the Moody's downgrade, which came after the close of Tokyo trading.

To: foundation who wrote (30812)	1/7/2003 8:02:34 AM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197227

Telecom epicenter shifts to Asia-Pacific Marc van Impe Nordic Wireless Watch - January 7, 2003 at 08:21 GMT According to a report by ITU, the effects of the 2001 global economic slowdown have been milder in the Asia-Pacific region. A ranking of the ten most profitable public telecommunication operators shows that seven of them originate in Asia. And a strong economic growth, coupled with greater consumer spending power, saw a positive growth in telecommunication services in the Asia-Pacific region. ITU Asia-Pacific Telecommunication Indicators, released by ITU to coincide with ITU Telecom Asia 2002, held in Hong Kong last December, reports that as a global player the Asia-Pacific region distinguishes itself not only in size of its telecoms market and growth in teledensity, but also in technology deployment, and the innovative and flexible nature of its policy models. In 2001, the region emerged as the world's largest telecommunication market, having added more than one new phone user every second for the last decade. While Japan and Korea continue to lead the world in commercial deployment of 3G networks, small countries like Bhutan and Tonga have also leapfrogged to leading-edge technologies. The report also observes that South Asia, currently the least developed subregion, with a teledensity of 4 in 2001, could provide the next great spurt of growth for the region as this is where the potential for "catch-up" is greatest. nordicwirelesswatch.com