NTT DOCOMO

2020: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone purchased NTT Docomo for $40 billion

At the end of September, 2020 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) announced the transaction according to the results of which the company will receive 100 percent control over one of the mobile operators NTT DoCoMo, largest in Japan. The cost of the transaction is $40 billion.

Before NTT owned 66.2% of stocks of Docomo granting a voting right. Now it was decided to increase a share to 100%. To closing of the exchange on September 28, 2020 market capitalization of Docomo made about $30 billion.

Financing of the transaction will be made at the expense of the loans granted by three largest banks, including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. At the end of June, 2020 on balance of telecommunication company was more than 1 trillion yens of money and their equivalents.

The Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo is sold and passes under control of the state

After the declaration of the transaction of the stock Docomo rose in price for the value of a day maximum — 18.5%. At the same time the quotations of NTT sank for 0.7%. Also securities of competitors of Docomo — telecommunication giants KDDI and SoftBank as investors are afraid of reduction of tariffs for mobile communication to which the government of Japan owning about 33% of NTT can resort fell in price.

In 2018 Yoshihide Suga holding then a post of the CEO of the cabinet of Japan urged operators to reduce the prices of telephone communication by 40%. Docomo and other telecommunication operators fulfilled this requirement, but not in a complete size. Mobile communication in Tokyo remained more expensive, than in London and Seoul, the The Wall Street Journal newspaper notes.

In the publication it is also said that the government cannot force operators to reduce the price, but its share in NTT allows to influence the solution Docomo especially as Tokyo will not need to worry about minority shareholders after the transaction. KDDI and SoftBank then will not have other choice except how to make rates more available after Docomo.^[1]

2001: The company starts the first-ever commercial network of mobile communication 3G

In 2001 the first commercial 3G network was started – on October 1, 2001 it was made by the Japanese NTT DoCoMo. 3G networks for the first time gave to subscribers the chance to enjoy broadband (over 1 Mbps) the mobile Internet.