Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo has confirmed previous reports it is to buy the 30 percent stake of Bangladesh operator AKTEL currently owned by AK Khan & Co, a privately-owned textiles and telecoms company. Bloomberg notes the deal is worth US$350 million, 18 percent less than the previously reported figure from Reuters earlier this month of US$425 million. Vodafone was also believed to have been interested in the stake.

This year DoCoMo has already raised its stake in Philippine Long Distance Telephone and bought a stake in U Mobile, an unlisted firm partly owned by Malaysian tycoon Vincent Tan. The remaining 70 percent of AKTEL – Bangladesh’s third-largest mobile operator with 7.4 million subscribers as of end Q1 2008, according to Wireless Intelligence – is owned by Telekom Malaysia International. Bangladesh is the sixth fastest-growing market in Asia Pacific, with a year-on-year connections growth rate of 60 percent as of end-Q1 this year and a penetration rate of only 24 percent.