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DoCoMo in $2.6B UK push
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July 4, 2000: 11:23 a.m. ET
Japan mobile firm and KPN, eyeing Europe, buy 35% of Hutchison venture
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Japanese mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo and Dutch ally KPN Mobile are expected to invest about  2.8 billion ($2.6 billion) in a UK mobile-phone joint venture led by Hong Kong telecom company Hutchison Whampoa, as they form a new venture to tap other markets across Europe.
To kick off the venture, NTT DoCoMo is poised to pay about 1.6 billion ($1.5 billion) for a 20-percent stake in a joint venture Hutchison formed with Canadian firm Telesystem International Wireless Inc. (TIW: Research, Estimates) to buy a next-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System license in Britain, an industry source told Reuters.
For its part, KPN will take a 15 percent stake in the venture for about 1.2 billion, the source also said. The Hutchison-TIW joint venture, more than 90-percent owned by the Hong Kong conglomerate, agreed in April to buy a UK license for £4.4 billion ($6.6 billion).
A KPN spokesman would not confirm those details, saying: "Together with NTT DoCoMo and Hutchison we are looking at the possibility of [purchasing advanced cell phone] licenses in a number of European countries. England is one country."
The UK auction brought in about $35.5 billion for the British government. Other European countries are expected to follow suit, although in certain cases with a different auction format, over the next few months. DoCoMo, KPN and Hutchison plan to announce as early as this week a new joint venture that will bid for UMTS licenses in Germany, France and Belgium.
Hutchison declined to comment on the story, calling it "market speculation" but confirmed it is considering the possibility of bidding for third-generation mobile-phone licenses in Europe. The company also said it has been looking for a partner to bid for a German license later this month.
NTT DoCoMo, which agreed to buy 15 percent of KPN Mobile for about $4.5 billion in May and owns 19 percent of Hutchison, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The latest in mobile communications technology, UMTS promises to offer customers Internet access, e-mail and video over mobile phones.
NTT DoCoMo and KPN considered buying Orange PLC, Britain's third- largest mobile-phone company, after it won a UK third-generation license, but lost out to France Telecom SA, which bid £31 billion. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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