NTT DoCoMo Inc is seeking multibillion dollar deals for mobile phone carriers in the Asia-Pacific region as Japan’s largest wireless operator hunts for growth overseas.
“If investing ¥1 trillion [US$9.8 billion] can bring us a return, we will go ahead,” chief financial officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said in an interview yesterday at the company’s Tokyo headquarters. “We don’t set a cap on the investment size, since we have the ability to raise capital.”
NTT DoCoMo, which had ¥546.5 billion in cash and equivalents as of March 31, is seeking targets in countries that are growing and are also popular destinations for Japanese travelers, Tsubouchi said.
The company would prefer to take a majority stake in other carriers, although some nations limit foreign investment in phone operators, he said.
Generating growth at home is proving difficult for NTT DoCoMo amid a declining population and as smaller rivals Softbank Corp and KDDI Corp offer promotions to boost subscriber numbers.
SoftBank added 649,500 net users in March to raise its total to 35.9 million, according to a statement on April 7. That compares with 515,500 new subscribers for NTT DoCoMo and 494,600 for KDDI, the carriers reported separately.
“I don’t think we were surpassed by others,” Tsubouchi said when asked about Softbank’s rise. “When you are passed by someone in a marathon you don’t aim at passing them to become No. 1. You do what you need to do, follow your own pace. We could be the first one to reach the goal.”
China and South Korea were the top overseas destinations for Japanese tourists in January, with Thailand in fourth and Taiwan in fifth, according to Japan Tourism Marketing Co.
In 2001 and 2002, NTT DoCoMo invested about US$10.2 billion in AT&T Wireless Services Inc, Hiroko Shimoyama, a spokeswoman for the carrier, said by telephone. The Japanese company sold its 16 percent stake to Cingular Wireless LLC for US$6.5 billion in 2004.
NTT DoCoMo “hasn’t given up” on overseas expansion, despite losses incurred from previous investments, Tsubouchi said.
NTT DoCoMo last month said its operating profit may drop 8.4 percent to ¥750 billion in the fiscal year ending March, the third straight annual decline. The company is also open to alliances with other carriers as it seeks to expand overseas, Tsubouchi said.
The wireless operator plans to sell the 26.5 percent stake in Tata Teleservices Ltd it acquired for ¥266.7 billion in 2009 and 2011.
If the Mumbai-based carrier fails to meet performance targets in the fiscal year ended last month, NTT DoCoMo can sell the Tata Teleservices shares for 50 percent of the acquisition price or a fair market price, whichever is higher, the firm said.
Tata Teleservices, the seventh-largest operator in India, reported a net loss of 34.9 billion rupees (US$590 million) and debt of 315 billion rupee in the nine months through Dec. 31 last year. It had a loss of 48.58 billion rupees in the financial year prior to that.
“It is hard if the carrier is not influential,” Tsubouchi said, referring to the Indian firm’s market share. “It is a lesson for us going forward.”
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