NTT DoCoMo to buy stake in Tata Teleservices

Japan's NTT DoCoMo is planning to buy a 25% stake in Indian telecommunications company Tata Telesystems and will announce details later today, according to a report in Wednesday's Sankei newspaper.

For the stake NTT DoCoMo will pay approximately $1.5 billion, said the newspaper, the newspaper said without naming a source.

NTT DoCoMo is Japan's largest cellular carrier and its 54 million subscribers give it a 51% share of the market. Two weeks ago it outlined a strategic growth plan that calls for an expansion of its revenue from international businesses and investments and alliances with carriers mainly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tata Teleservices is a mobile telecom service provider in India. It has recently launched the Blackberry device in India after a long discussion with the government over security concerns because Blackberry messages are more difficult to intercept than those on conventional cellular messaging systems.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.