PLDT, NTT hold Japanese joint venture talks

Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) is said to be holding talks with Japanese telco Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) concerning a joint venture designed to exploit demand for communications services from Filipinos living in Japan. Bloomberg quotes PLDT spokesman Ramon Isberto as saying ‘We are in talks with the NTT Group, in order to better serve the Filipino community in Japan.’ NTT and its mobile division DoCoMo collectively own around 21% of the Filipino company and are looking to exploit the tie-up to secure a larger share of calls made between the two countries. ‘e are considering various options for cooperation with PDLT in a wide range of businesses, but haven’t decided on any new investments,’ DoCoMo spokesman Shuichiro Ichikoshi confirmed.