NTT DoCoMo Inc. will shift its global strategy in the mobile phone business from capital investment to technological tieups, after suffering huge losses on its investments in overseas mobile phone operators, NTT Corp. President Norio Wada said Monday.
"It is possible we will have partners through technological tieups or business affiliations," Wada said, adding that spending a huge amount of money is not the only way to promote its global operations.
NTT DoCoMo, the biggest mobile phone operator in Japan and the most profitable firm in the group led by the nation's largest telecommunications company, invested heavily in AT&T Wireless Services Inc. of the United States and other mobile phone service companies abroad to disseminate third-generation mobile phones compatible with its i-mode and FOMA mobile Internet services.
Those investments totaled about 1.9 trillion yen at one time.
But the burst of the so-called Internet technology bubble caused a huge appraisal loss on its securities holdings, and as a result, depressed its consolidated group companies' earnings.
Wada's comments suggest NTT DoCoMo, which has already decided to sell its equity stake of 16 percent in AT&T, will probably seek technological tieups with the largest U.S. mobile phone service firm to be created through the purchase of AT&T Wireless by Cingular Wireless LLC.