NTT DoCoMo sold its 2.16 percent stake in Dutch carrier KPN Mobile to parent company Royal KPN for $5.9 million in cash. The deal also grants DoCoMo permission to offer its mobile phone Internet linking technology, i-mode to O2 Germany, a rival of KPN's German subsidiary, E-Plus. KPN demanded that O2 Germany not market the i-mode technology under the i-mode brand as part of the licensing agreement. DoCoMo said it will record a gain of about $345 million and report an operating expense of $121 million.
NTT DoCoMo recently changed its strategy of investing in foreign wireless carriers in favor of licensing agreements of its i-mode technology. The company's investment debacles include AT&T Wireless and have cost the company millions in the past few years.
For more on DoCoMo's sale of its KPN Mobile stake:
- see this piece from MSN Money
PLUS: NTT DoCoMo discovered more than 71,000 of its mobile service subscribers' email addresses were leaked on a Guam-based Web site. Article