I-Mode Leader Coy On New Investment

"...we did not exchange a single word about business."

NTT DoCoMo Chairman Kouji Oboshi, whose company is widely rumored to be considering an investment in a Korean telecommunications company, brushed aside questions about such plans by saying his firm and SK Telecom have a long-standing cooperative history which will continue.

Mr. Oboshi, who turned a failing company into a mobile communication giant after its spin-off from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation in 1992, spoke to reporters Thursday in Seoul.

Mr. Oboshi is best known for his company's introduction in Japan of "i-mode," a wireless Internet service, which became an instant hit with younger Japanese.

In a press conference immediately before his departure from a two-day visit to Seoul, Mr. Oboshi emphasized that the success of i-mode was "mainly driven by the thought that the business would succeed only if we could forecast the future."

"When the company first started developing i-mode in the fall of 1996, many opposed it because business in related sectors, including mobile phone service, was going extremely well. But i-mode was a great success," Mr. Oboshi said. "It was a result of researching data communications and predicting the limits of voice communication when nobody else in the industry was doing so."

When asked about his company's possible plans for an investment or other business relationship with Korean mobile telephone service SK Telecom, Mr. Oboshi noted that the two firms have a long-standing relationship. "NTT Do- CoMo has cooperated with SK Telecom for a long time in technology and management, and the cooperation will continue," he said. "Although I had a dinner with SK Telecom President and CEO Cho Jung-nam during my this visit to Korea, we did not exchange a single word related to business." He had no other comment on any plans for expanded cooperation with the Korean firm.

As another factor in the success of i-mode, Mr. Oboshi pointed out that "i-mode was possible because my company opened its network and allowed 26,000 content providers to upload their information freely."

"Investments in the information technology sector may heighten productivity, but they also lead to lower employment in the long term," said Mr. Oboshi. "It is important to seek a method of attracting investment to information technology that creates new markets that will stimulate employment growth at the same time," he emphasized.

Mr. Oboshi, a Hokkaido-born businessman, has a law degree from Tokyo University. After serving as a sales manager at NTT's data communication headquarters, he was named to head corporate management planning communication system departments at NTT. In 1992, he was appointed president of NTT DoCoMo. During his eight-year leadership of that firm, its sales have grown to 44 trillion won ($40 billion) and its value, based on current share prices, reached 330 trillion won.

Mr. Oboshi's Seoul visit was also for the purpose of promoting the newly-released Korean translation of his book about NTT DoCoMo. During his stay in Seoul, Mr. Oboshi also gave a lecture at the Korea Productivity Center.

by choiji@joongang.co.k