TOKYO, JAPAN, November 30, 2005 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that it will acquire 6,356 newly allocated shares in software company ACCESS CO., LTD. for about 15 billion yen, or 2.36 million yen per share, raising its stake from 7.12% to 11.66%. DoCoMo expects to complete this investment process on December 20, 2005.
ACCESS develops and markets Internet software, mainly for mobile phones. Their products are marketed under the brand name NetFront®. DoCoMo and ACCESS have been strengthening their partnership to develop mobile phone browsers and ACCESS's browser is widely used in DoCoMo's 3G FOMA® handsets. Through this investment, DoCoMo and ACCESS aim to enhance their already close working relationship in development of upper layer application software centered on browser technology.
ACCESS was established in 1984 and is headquartered in Tokyo. It had capital of about 9.18 billion yen and 422 employees, or 647 on a consolidated basis, as of July 2005.
About NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo is the world's leading mobile communications company, serving more than 50 million customers. The company offers a wide variety of leading-edge mobile multimedia services, including i-mode® which provides e-mail and Internet access to over 45 million subscribers as the world's most popular mobile Internet service, and FOMA®, launched in 2001 as the world's first 3G mobile service based on
W-CDMA. In addition to wholly owned subsidiaries in Europe,
North America and Asia, the company is expanding its global reach through strategic alliances with mobile and multimedia service providers in
Asia-Pacific and Europe.
NTT DoCoMo is listed on the Tokyo (9437), London (NDCM) and
New York (DCM) stock exchanges. For more information, visit
www.docomo.ne.jp/english.
i-mode and FOMA are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. in Japan and other countries.
NTT DoCoMo's FOMA service is only available to subscribers in Japan.
ACCESS and NetFront are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACCESS CO., LTD. in Japan and other countries.
