ASIA
: NTT DoCoMo announced that the company will wholly acquire Guam Cellular
& Paging, Inc. (Guam Cellular) and Guam Wireless Telephone Company,
LLC (Guam Wireless) for the total amount of US$71,800,000. Both companies
provide mobile services in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
DoCoMo will establish a
holding company to acquire 100% of the shares of Guam Cellular. It
will then acquire the business of Guam Wireless through Guam Cellular
and merge the two companies. DoCoMo will also provide additional funds
up to approximately US$6,500,000 to strengthen the newly merged company's
facilities and infrastructure.
The acquisitions will be
finalized as soon as approval is received from U.S. regulatory authorities
overseeing communication services in these territories.
The acquisitions will enable
DoCoMo to better serve many Japanese travelers who visit Guam and
the Northern Mariana Islands, and enable the islands' residents to
benefit from DoCoMo's world-leading mobile technology. Such efforts
will include, for example, enhancing the quality of GSM network and
adding GPRS capability to launch packet roaming services. DoCoMo also
aims to introduce a W-CDMA network for 3G services utilizing Guam
Cellular's frequency band in the future.
Guam Cellular provides
a CDMA service under the "Guamcell Communications" and "Saipancell
Communications" brands. Guam Wireless, which provides a GSM service
under the "HafaTEL" brand, is DoCoMo's roaming partner in
the two territories.