DoCoMo to get High Tech's Windows phones `soon'

NTT DoCoMo Inc, the world's second-largest wireless operator, will receive shipments of its first phones using Microsoft Corp's Windows software ``within weeks,'' the supplier said.

"We have an engagement with DoCoMo and we are hoping to ship them, you know, within weeks," Peter Chou (周永明), president of High Tech Computer Corp (宏達電), said in an interview in London on Wednesday.

DoCoMo said in January that the phones, which have a small keyboard, would be available from September. High Tech is the world's largest maker of phones based on the Windows system.

The Taoyuan-based company is also planning to gradually shift its Qtek brand to HTC in European markets and will still maintain its Dopod brand in Asian markets, the Chinese-language Cnyes.com reported yesterday citing Chou.

However, the company emphasized that it would continue working with telecom service providers through both brandname manufacturing and contract-based production partnerships, according to the report published on the Taipei-based Web site.

In Europe, High Tech Computer makes handsets for wireless operators such as Vodafone Group, Deutsche Telekom AG's T-mobile and Orange SA, which sell the phones under their own brand.

On June 2, the company announced it would spend US$150 million to acquire a 50 percent plus stake in local handset vendor Dopod International Corp (多普達) as part of its plan to establish a greater presence in Asian-Pacific markets.

But criticism of the deal by institutional investors hurt High Tech Computer's share prices. Investors were concerned about the potential for share price manipulation, as both High Tech Computer and Dopod, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, are owned by Cher Wang (王雪紅), daughter of tycoon Wang Yung-ching (王永慶).

High Tech Computer's shares dropped 0.34 percent to NT$893 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

The Cnyes.com report also quoted Chou as saying that the company may postpone a planned overseas share sale because the recent weakening of its share prices made it difficult to find potential buyers.

Company officials in Taipei declined to comment on the Web site's report yesterday.