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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (30884)	1/8/2003 7:10:36 AM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197280

DoCoMo to issue Y50bn in bonds to fund 3G By Mariko Sanchanta in Tokyo Published: January 8 2003 9:33 \| Last Updated: January 8 2003 9:33 news.ft.com NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile phone operator, said on Wednesday it would issue ¥50bn in bonds later this month, in a bid to raise funds for its struggling third-generation service. DoCoMo said it would offer ¥50bn in four-year straight domestic bonds with a coupon between 0.15 per cent to 0.45 per cent. Final terms on the issue are to be set next week. Despite the expected low coupon, which is set to yield less than the 10-year Japanese government bond, analysts expect to see robust demand for the issue. "DoCoMo will have no problem selling ¥50bn worth of bonds," said Jason Rogers, credit analyst at Barclays Capital in Tokyo. "Investors are looking to an alternative to bank deposits." Interest rates in Japan have been close to zero for nearly two years, due to the Bank of Japan's "quantitative easing" policy. The mobile phone company tapped the debt market twice last year in a bid to raise funds and pay down existing debt. The latest issue is the first one targeting individual investors. But Moody's, the credit rating agency, revised its outlook on DoCoMo's Aa1 senior long-term debt to "negative" from "stable", citing concern over the future of its Foma 3G service. DoCoMo "may face greater challenges in securing for Foma the solid market position it has achieved for its 2G [second generation] services," said Moody's. Analysts said the revised outlook would not impact the bond offering, as DoCoMo's Aa1 rating continues to reflect its dominant 58 per cent wireless market share in Japan, coupled with its "strong" financial profile, according to Moody's. DoCoMo launched the world's first 3G service in October 2001 amid much fanfare, using the wideband CDMA standard. But the uptake of Foma has been lacklustre at best, with only 149,000 subscribers having signed up by the end of November last year. The company's shares emerged unscathed by the revision, closing up 0.4 per cent at ¥234,000, despite the Nikkei 225 shedding 1.6 per cent.

To: John Biddle who wrote (30884)	1/8/2003 9:47:56 AM
From: rkral	Respond to of 197280

John, Ollila said "WCDMA is an evolutionary technology for the GSM system ..." Note Ollila said technology. He did not say it was a marketing evolution .. or a natural evolution, whatever that means. So I listed a few consequences of the technology choice that was made. You made no counter-points .. on a technological basis. Re my "thinking in terms of the customer". You've got that correct .. absolutely. I try to consider the impact of a business decision on the customer of that business .. and the customer's customer .. etcetera, etcetera .. all the way to the end user. My philosophy is that whatever is in the best long-term interest of the customer .. and the end user .. is also best for the business in the long-term. And considerations of impacts on the public .. and the environment .. fit in there somewhere too. Please reread your last paragraph. Phrases such as "their oligopoly market" .. "their great shared technical prowess" .. "uppity Americans from San Diego" .. "Asian hordes" .. and "superiority of the European way" .. indicate an arrogance I seldom encounter. I am assuming the arrogance is not yours and that you parroted others .. or posted that paragraph in jest. Ron