DOCOMO chief denies reports of selling Tata Tele share

Says company has no plans to sell any part of its 26% equity holding in Indian partner

Kaoru Kato, president of NTT DOCOMO, the largest telecom carrier in Japan, believes the company's venture in India is a long-haul journey that has a few surprises, but growth is bound to happen.

In a recent interview to the Wall Street Journal, Kato said the company had no plans to sell any part of its 26 per cent equity holding in Indian partner Tata Teleservices, denying recent reports in the Indian media the Japanese telco was looking for an exit from the market.

"We were thrown for a loop when we heard about (the auctioning of the revoked licenses and the rule changes), but we plan to hold on to our stake," Kato said in an interview to the Wall Street Journal. "We're aware that growth might take time," he added. He also denied reports Docomo was in talks to sell a stake to Russia's AFK Sistema, which owns a majority stake in Sistema Shyam Teleservices that provides CDMA services in India, according to the report. DOCOMO bought into Tata Teleservices in 2009 as part of its strategy to look for long-term growth abroad through acquisitions in other Asian countries. DOCOMO had paid $2.7 billion for the deal. But, as part of an agreement with the Tatas, DOCOMO has the option to sell its entire stake by July 2014, and the Tatas are obliged to acquire its shareholding if certain operational parameters are not met.