By Tony Hallett, 12 July 2000 10:41
NEWS Hutchison Whampoa, KPN and NTT DoCoMo have announced a tie up that will see the Dutch and Japanese companies gain a foothold in the UK's mobile market and pave the way for them to bid for 3G licences in major European markets. TIW - the Canadian concern that won one of the five 3G licences in the UK auction - earlier this year teamed up with Hong Kong's Hutchison, previously the main backer of Orange until its buy-out by Mannesmann. TIW and Hutchison will dispose of 35 per cent of their UK 3G business to KPN Mobile and NTT DoCoMo for a total of almost E3bn (£1.88bn). NTT DoCoMo owns 10 per cent of the Dutch outfit. The move effectively gets KPN and NTT DoCoMo into the UK, raises funds for Hutchison, and allows the companies to pool their funds and expertise to expand through licence bids in France, Germany and Belgium.
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