However, the mobile operator could face problems from its lenders, according to the Financial Times. Following the banking scandals in Japan over recent years, reliable borrowers are in very short supply, and financial institutions are keen to hold on to blue-chip clients.
We will start to negotiate with our lenders to reduce debt, but I don’t know whether it will work, said CFO Masayuki Hirata. The Tokyo, Japan-based carrier’s main lenders are the large life insurance companies and trust banks, and they may not accept repayment of loans before they are due.
DoCoMo is aiming to reduce to debt to make better use of its cash pile. Its share buy-back brought back JPY 190bn ($1.62bn) worth of shares from NTT (DoCoMo’s parent company, with a 62.9% stake), out of a total of JPY 195bn ($1.67bn).
Source: ComputerWire
