Japan's top mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo Inc might not bid for US-based AT&T Wireless because of the potential risks, newspapers reported yesterday, while the company declined to comment on its plans.
Two major Japanese newspapers, Yomiuri Shimbun and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, reported yesterday that NTT DoCoMo, the world's second-biggest mobile-phone services company, was moving toward deciding against bidding for AT&T Wireless, because of the high costs.
Tokyo-based NTT DoCoMo, which is AT&T Wireless's largest shareholder with a 16 percent stake, is staying mum on whether it will make a bid for the US company.
"We are declining all comment on this matter," NTT DoCoMo spokesman Susumu Takeuchi said yesterday, adding that the situation remains complicated.
NTT DoCoMo will decide today whether to bid for its US affiliate AT&T Wireless, or sell a stake that may be worth as much as US$5.4 billion.
Executives will meet at DoCoMo's headquarters in Tokyo at 8pm Japan time, people familiar with the situation said. A deadline for bids for the US carrier, in which DoCoMo has a 16 percent holding, is set for 5pm today, New York time.
AT&T Wireless, the third-largest US cellphone operator, put itself up for sale last month, drawing suitors including Vodafone Group Plc and the parents of Cingular Wireless LLC, people familiar with the situation said. DoCoMo has faced investor pressure not to spend more on AT&T Wireless after writing down more than 90 percent of its original US$9.8 billion investment.
"If DoCoMo decides not to bid, that's reasonable from a credit point of view," said Minoru Yasuda, senior credit analyst at Mitsubishi Securities Co. "Competition is intensifying in the US and AT&T Wireless is losing money."
Vodafone, NTT DoCoMo's major rival in the Japanese market, confirmed its interest Monday.
The acquisition would require the British firm to sell its 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 cellphone company in the US.
Cingular Wireless, the second biggest US wireless company, has reportedly made a formal offer for AT&T Wireless.
NTT DoCoMo has been eager to find a foothold in the US mobile market, but officials have long been careful about further action on AT&T Wireless.
Raising its stake in AT&T Wireless would be costly at a time when NTT DoCoMo is just starting to recover from huge losses stemming from overseas investments, including its AT&T Wireless stake. It was also unclear whether the telecom will sell its stake after the US company is taken over by another bidder.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique