UPDATE 1-DoCoMo, Baidu to provide smartphone content in China-Nikkei

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July 8 (Reuters) - Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc and Baidu Inc , China's largest search engine operator, have agreed to team up to distribute mobile content to Chinese users, the Nikkei business daily said.

The two companies plan to form a joint venture(JV) next month and the Japanese mobile carrier is expected to invest about 2 billion yen ($24.7 million), the daily reported.

Baidu will take an 80 percent stake in the JV, while DoCoMo will own the remainder, the paper said. 

The two firms plan to develop and operate a site with search functions and will call on Japanese companies to supply content such as games, animation and comics for subscribers of Chinese mobile phone carriers, including China Mobile Ltd , Nikkei said.

DoCoMo has plans to form a content distribution system in Vietnam and market its services to telecom firms in other parts of Asia as well. It is also considering investment in local content providers, Nikkei reported. ($1 = 80.930 Japanese Yen)

(Reporting by Meenakshi Iyer in Bangalore; Editing by Viraj Nair)