NTT DoCoMo Inc. will join forces with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. of Hong Kong and KPN Mobile N.V. of Holland to jointly invest in Hutchison 3G UK Holding Ltd., one of the five licensees for next-generation cellular operations in Britain, the three companies announced Wednesday.
The trio also agreed to cooperate in covering third-generation (3G) multimedia cellular markets in Britain, Germany, France and Belgium. There are an estimated 210 million customers in the four markets, which are projected to have a value of 200 billion euros by 2010.
DoCoMo will acquire a 20 percent stake in Hutchison 3G UK Holding for 194.4 billion yen, with Hutchison Whampoa taking 58.5 percent and KPN Mobile N.V. 15 percent.