December 16, 2005

Japanese telecom giant NTT DoCoMo announced plans to acquire a 10-percent stake in South Korean operator KT Freetel Co.

DoCoMo said it will invest $561 million in KTF through a third-party allotment of new shares, as well as the purchase of KTF treasury stock.

"DoCoMo has always considered South Korea's domestic mobile communications market as highly evolved and realizes that there is a growing need for mobile services amongst travelers between our two nations," said Masao Nakamura, chief executive of DoCoMo.

"We are confident that KTF's ability in service development, combined with DoCoMo's experience with W-CDMA will create synergies-such as handset roaming-which will result in more convenience and satisfaction for the end user."

The two companies said they plan to jointly establish a "Business and Technology Cooperation Committee" to address issues such as joint projects focused on international travelers, seeking new business opportunities, examining equipment standardization and assisting KTF in deploying a nationwide W-CDMA network.

Source: RCR