Japan

TOKYO—The board of directors for the four J-Phone Communications Co. Ltd. companies; East, Central, West and Japan Telecom, agreed to merge their companies into a single J-Phone structure.The merged company, to be named J-Phone Co. Ltd., is expected to provide …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc has completed its acquisition of the interests of British Telecommunications Plc (BT) in Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. (JT) and J-Phone Communications Co. Ltd. (JPC) for a cash consideration of about $4.348 billion.

After a year in which its global customer base increased from 53 million customers to a staggering 83 million customers, U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc said it will turn its attention this year from rounding up more subscribers to making money …

In a dramatic move to bolster its value and trim debt, British Telecom said last week it would spin off its wireless unit, BT Wireless, as a separately traded company, and temporarily suspend dividend payments. The telecom giant said it …

LONDON-Vodafone Group plc has agreed to pay $6.9 billion total for British Telecommunications plc’s interests in Japan and Spain. The sale includes BT’s 20-percent stake in Japan Telecom and its 20-percent stake in J-Phone Communications, JT’s mobile subsidiary, making Vodafone …

TOKYO-Vodafone Group, the largest mobile carrier in the world, announced in May it will acquire British Telecommunications’ (BT) entire stake in Japan Telecom Group (JT) for 652.3 billion yen (US$5.4 billion). Following the deal, Vodafone Group will hold a 45-percent …

GENEVA-How the mighty have fallen. British Telecommunications (BT), once ranked among the world’s most powerful carriers, is finding itself buckling under a crippling mountain of debt in a climate where raising equity in the telecom/information technology (IT) sector has hit …

NEW YORK-Not surprisingly, the number and size of mergers and acquisitions for which a dollar value was made public declined markedly in all industries when compared to the same period a year ago, Los Angeles-based Mergerstat reported. Announced transactions involving …

TOKYO-Toyota Motor Corp. sold its stakes in three regional wireless companies to Japan Telecom for an undisclosed amount, international press reports said. J-Phone Communications is Japan’s second-largest mobile carrier and is owned 54 percent by Japan Telecom. Toyota held 1.97 …

TOKYO-Citing a delay in hardware development, Japan Telecom Co. Ltd. said it would delay the deployment of third generation services from this December until summer 2002. The delay will place Japan’s third-largest operator more than a year behind market leader …

LONDON-As speculated earlier this week, Vodafone Group plc said it agreed to acquire AT&T’s Corp.’s 10-percent economic interest in Japan Telecom Co. for $1.35 billion in cash. Following the completion of the transaction, Vodafone will hold 25 percent of Japan …

NTT DoCoMo, announced that it set the public offering prices for new shares at $17,500 per share for 400,000 shares. If the additional 60,000 shares are issued at the same price, the issue amount will total $8.1 billion, the firm …

TOKYO-KDDI, the sole cdmaOne operator in Japan, has been expanding its international roaming services, fully using its universally standardized cdmaOne technology. In January, KDDI launched international roaming services in Canada in cooperation with Telus Mobility, a major Canadian carrier. Canada …

TOKYO-KDDI, the second-largest carrier in Japan, has decided to launch its third-generation (3G) services based on High Data Rate (HDR) technology. KDDI will launch its HDR services initially using the 800 MHz band, the spectrum in which it provides second-generation …

TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo has been gearing up its global strategy, concluding one investment agreement after another. Since December 1999, it has invested in carriers in Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Britain. At the end of November 2000, DoCoMo announced another big …

STOCKHOLM, Sweden-Vodafone Group plc and Ireland’s Eircom plc reached an agreement calling for Vodafone to acquire the business of Eircell, Eircom’s mobile operator, for about $4.1 billion in stock. According to the deal, Eircell will be demerged from Eircom into …

Chris Gent has had quite a year. For the chief executive of Vodafone Group plc, 2000 began with a hostile takeover of Mannesmann AG, parent of its rival Orange plc, and continued with a spending spree for third-generation licenses across …

TOKYO-British Telecommunications plc is in the process of increasing its current 15-percent stake in Japan Telecom Co. Ltd., according to Reuters. The move comes at the same time BT rival Vodafone Group is also trying to gain a larger share …

TOKYO-The third-generation (3G) business plans and service strategies of three Japanese cellular carriers are becoming more concrete. NTT DoCoMo and J-Phone Group, the mobile business of Japan Telecom, are going to launch 3G services based on wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) technology in …

TOKYO-Japanese vendors are in the final stages of developing third-generation (3G) terminals. Japanese 3G services are scheduled to be launched earlier than any other country in May 2001 by NTT DoCoMo, followed by J-Phone, the mobile business of Japan Telecom …

TOKYO-The mobile music distribution business is going to take off in Japan, according to industry representatives. Some carriers have already revealed their services, while others are promoting field tests in cooperation with vendors. NTT DoCoMo at the beginning of 2000 …

TOKYO-KDDI, the newly formed telecom group in Japan, said it is talking to several foreign carriers regarding alliances, international press reports said. A possible alliance could include an equity investment, although such an investment likely would be no more than …

TOKYO-Japan Telecom said it plans to launch third-generation (3G) mobile service by October 2001, instead of its originally scheduled December 2001 date. J-Phone, the company’s wireless operator, hopes to better compete with NTT DoCoMo, the country’s dominant wireless carrier by …

Qualcomm Inc. appears to have gotten its way in Japan. DDI Corp., which plans to take over IDO and KDD in October, is expected to file for a third-generation license application with the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications this …

Third-generation technology has become a sensitive issue in Japan as the U.S. government pushes for free technology choices there and Qualcomm Inc. possibly ponders applying for a Japanese 3G license. The sensitivity stems from a plethora of Japanese newspaper reports …