Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo has sealed a deal to buy the 30 percent stake of Bangladesh operator AKTEL currently owned by AK Khan & Co, a privately-owned textiles and telecoms company, according to a Reuters report. The report claims Japan’s largest mobile phone operator has beaten competition from Vodafone, and will pay about US$425 million for the stake. Last month DoCoMo told Bloomberg that the two companies were in talks; Reuters says an official announcement could come as early as next week. 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.