Japanese Carrier NTT DoCoMo Rumoured to Sell the iPhone

In an interview with Japanese business magazine Sankeibiz, Kazuto Tsubouchi, CEO of NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest carrier, suggested that after many years of negotiations with Apple, the parties could reach an agreement for NTT DoCoMo to sell the iPhone.

As Bloomberg points out, for Apple it doesn’t make business sense not to allow the country’ biggest carrier to sell the iPhone, and DoCoMo want’s its share of the iPhone user market.

Chief Financial Officer Kazuto Tsubouchi said there are compelling reasons for Apple and his company to reach an agreement, according to an interview published in SankeiBiz. For Apple, it doesn’t make business sense not to allow Japan’s largest wireless carrier to sell the iPhone, while DoCoMo wants to be able to sell most popular handsets, Sankei said.

Apple already offers its popular handset in Japan through KDDI and Softbank, which are the No. 2 and No. 3 wireless players respectively. The rumour of DoCoMo selling the iPhone this September when it comes out has sent the stock price of the KDDI and Softbank down, while DoCoMo shares are rising.

Selling the iPhone has benefitted DoCoMo’s rivals, the Bloomberg report highlights. While Japan’s biggest carrier has slowed down in growth, adding just 172,500 users in July, KDDI has added 225,200, and Softbank’s customer base increased by 254,500 during July.

DoCoMo seems to be betting on the sale of the forthcoming iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, which will help the company grow its market share in Japan, which currently stands at 45%