According to a report by Nikkei, ‘Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo Inc plans to transfer television broadcast technology for cellular phones to Indian partner Tata Teleservices with an eye to launching mobile phone TV service in the South Asian country in 2014.’Once commercial service begins, DoCoMo will charge commissions to local TV broadcasters and Japanese content providers for use of the technology.
The new service will likely help Tata Teleservices sign up more subscribers.
DoCoMo expanded into the high-growth Indian mobile phone market in March 2009 by investing roughly 260 billion yen in Tata Teleservices. Unlike in the stagnant Japanese market, mobile phone users in India expand by more than 15 million a month and are currently at roughly 700 million, Nikkei said.
Tata Teleservices had about 80 million subscribers at the end of October - 40 percent more than DoCoMo has in Japan.
The Indian partner is considering issuing shares to raise funds for setting up base stations for its 3G mobile phone service.
DoCoMo will likely buy 10-20 billion yen in new Tata Teleservices shares to maintain the 26 percent stake it currently owns in the company.
If the service takes root in India, it will likely help Japanese manufacturers boost exports of their high-performance handsets, Nikkei reported.
