NTT DoCoMo, KPN to buy 35% of Hutchison unit

NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Dutch partner KPN Mobile NV plan to invest as much as $2 billion in a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. to access the U.K. market for cellular phones offering high-speed Internet access, the Financial Times reported, without citing sources.

The biggest Japanese and Dutch mobile companies are set to buy 35 percent of Hutchison’s U.K. operating company for between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, with DoCoMo taking 20 percent, the FT report said. Hong Kong-based Hutchison would retain 58 percent of the company and Canada’s Telesystem International Wireless Inc. the remaining 7 percent.

The investment would offer DoCoMo and KPN access to Britain’s cellular market as it introduces such third-generation mobile phone services, one of the first countries in Europe to offer access to this type of technology.

DoCoMo’s investment in the Hutchison venture could be a sign the company will pursue its overseas expansion as part of a three-way partnership with Hutchison and KPN.

“Hutchison already has global exposure in its mobile and Internet businesses and it’s looking for technological and financial support for further expansion,” said Shinji Moriyuki, a senior analyst at the Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd.

DoCoMo spokesman Youichi Mizushima declined to comment on the report, which he said was based on “a rumour in the market.” A Hutchison Whampoa spokesperson declined to comment. DoCoMo and KPN had considered buying Orange Plc, the U.K.’s third largest cellular phone operator. France Telecom SA agreed in May to buy Orange for 31 billion pounds in cash, stock and assumed debt.

Hutchison teamed with TIW in April to win one of five third- generation cellular licences awarded by the British government. After paying 4.4 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) to win the U.K. permit, Hutchison and TIW are planning to invest another 5 billion pounds to build a cellular-phone network, aiming to take a fifth of the U.K. market for the new services. Reuters