TOKYO, JAPAN, January 31, 2006 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc., announced today that it has agreed with NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), and PLDT's largest shareholder First Pacific Company Limited that DoCoMo will acquire 12,633,486 PLDT shares (approximately 7% of PLDT's issued shares) owned by NTT Com for approximately 52.1 billion yen. In addition, DoCoMo and PLDT will form a comprehensive business tie-up, including the launch of the i-mode® service in the Philippines.
The share acquisition and tie-up with PLDT will take place after DoCoMo and PLDT's wholly owned mobile subsidiary, SMART Communications, Inc. (SMART), complete registration with the concerned authorities in the Philippines regarding the i-mode service, and also conclude an i-mode license agreement.
As part of the tie-up, DoCoMo will support PLDT and SMART in introducing i-mode and W-CDMA services and promoting international roaming between Japan and the Philippines. In addition, DoCoMo will appoint one director each to the boards of PLDT and SMART and may consider increasing its investment in PLDT if a suitable opportunity arises.
About NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo is the world's leading mobile communications company, serving more than 50 million customers. The company offers a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services, including i-mode® which provides e-mail and Internet access to over 45 million subscribers as the world's most popular mobile Internet service, and FOMA®, launched in 2001 as the world's first 3G mobile service based on W-CDMA. In addition to wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia, the company is expanding its global reach through strategic alliances with mobile and multimedia service providers in Asia-Pacific and Europe.
NTT DoCoMo is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit
www.docomo.ne.jp/english.
i-mode and FOMA are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries.
NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service is only available to subscribers in Japan.
