NTT DoCoMo Inc. plans to promote Senior Vice President Shiro Tsuda to the position of president, company sources said Thursday. He will succeed Keiji Tachikawa, they said.
The appointment of Tsuda, 58, will be finalized at a board meeting to be held shortly after a shareholders' meeting in June, the sources said.
Having served six years as president, Tachikawa, 64, is expected to become an adviser and to stay on the board.
Tsuda joined Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Public Corp., the predecessor of NTT Corp., in 1970 and has been with NTT DoCoMo since its establishment in 1992.
Tsuda played a key role in promoting NTT DoCoMo's i-mode Internet-capable mobile phone service and third-generation mobile phone services. He has been in his current post since November 2001.
He will face a tough task, as NTT DoCoMo's domination of the mobile phone market is being challenged by KDDI Corp.'s au service.