DoCoMo seals $425 mln deal for 30% of Aktel-sources

TOKYO (Reuters) - NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T), Japan's top mobile phone operator, has sealed a deal to buy a 30 percent stake in Aktel, Bangladesh's No. 3 cellphone carrier, for about $425 million, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The official announcement will come as early as next week, they said.

NTT DoCoMo has been trying to gain a foothold in fast-growing Asian markets as it looks for new growth drivers outside the mature and highly competitive Japanese market.

Although nearly half of Bangladesh's population still lives on less than a dollar a day, it has one of the world's fastest-growing mobile phone markets.

The number of mobile phone users jumped 58 percent to 34.4 million in 2007 and is expected to approach 50 million by the end of 2009. But that would still be 30-plus percent of the population, and DoCoMo is betting on the potential of the market.

Aktel is 70 percent-owned by Telekom Malaysia International (TLMM.KL) and 30 percent-owned by Bangladeshi firm AK Khan & Co.

DoCoMo has reached an agreement with AK Khan & Co to buy the 30 percent stake for about 45 billion yen ($425 million) and plans to work with Telecom Malaysia in operating Aktel, the sources told Reuters.

A DoCoMo spokesman said nothing had been decided.

As of April, Aktel's user base stood at 7.57 million with a market share of around 18 percent.

Bangladesh's top mobile phone company Grameenphone is majority owned by Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL) and boasts a user base of 18.6 million. The No. 2 player in the market is Banglalink, a unit of Egypt's Orascom Telecom (ORTE.CA), with 8.6 million.

This year, DoCoMo has raised its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone (TEL.PS) and bought a stake in U Mobile, an unlisted firm partly owned by Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan.

($1=105.90 Yen)

(Writing by Sachi Izumi)