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NTT DoCoMo To Invest In Overseas Content Providers And Carriers; “Not Giving Up” On iPhone

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NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM), Japan’s dominant carrier will look overseas into investing in content companies and carriers as the country’s maturing market proves increasingly difficult to wring revenues from. It is also expecting its mobile phone e-wallet business to turn a profit in 2-3 years time as it signs on more users and said it has not given up on bringing the iPhone to its customers.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s iPhone in Japan: Where’s DoCoMo?

In an interview with Reuters, the carrier’s newly installed president and CEO Ryuji Yamada outlined his plans for Japan’s former incumbent, which has seen its market share eaten away by its smaller rivals Softbank and KDDI. In April it dipped below 50 percent—the first time since the regulator began keeping tabs on these figures 12 years ago. Yamada said that Asia-Pacific remained DoCoMo’s “number one priority,” in terms of investments, followed by the Middle East and Africa. Companies in Russia and Central Asia would also be considered.

DoCoMo will also be watching Softbank’s July 11 roll out of the iPhone, which it says it has “not given up on the possibility” of bringing to its own customers. The jury’s still out on how popular the phone will prove. As Yamada pointed out, the iPhone doesn’t have the ability to allow users to view TV using Japan’s dominant standard OneSeg, and that it doesn’t have an e-wallet function, both very popular among users, and deriguer in the handsets already available in Japan.

As for the company’s cellphone wallet, DoCoMo said the business will hit profitability once it gets around 15 million subscribers. Yamada said he believed it would accrue 9 million by March 2009.

Jul 3, 2008 7:56 AM ET

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