NTT DoCoMo ups stake in Philippines' PLDT
TOKYO |
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) has raised its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (TEL.PS), lifting the NTT group's (9432.T) overall holding in the Philippines' largest telecom firm to 20.03 percent as it looks abroad for revenue.
The share purchase allows DoCoMo to class PLDT as an equity-method affiliate and will likely boost DoCoMo's net profit next year by several billion yen, DoCoMo spokesman Shuichiro Ichikoshi said.
DoCoMo, which controls more than half of Japan's mobile market, has bought 12.53 million additional PLDT shares for 86.7 billion yen ($815.7 million) since March 2007, raising its stake in PLDT to 13.34 percent from 6.7 percent, it said on Tuesday.
The investment, which brings the NTT group's holdings in PLDT close to a 21 percent limit previously agreed on, will help it strengthen partnerships in global roaming services and joint technological development, DoCoMo officials said.
The combined investment in PLDT of DoCoMo and NTT Communications, another unit of former Japan state-owned monopoly NTT, now totals 164.3 billion yen.
($1=106.29 Yen)
(Reporting by Mayumi Negishi)
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