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.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
RSS