10Meters News Service

NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese company that proved customers will buy cell phone services, is looking West for expansion opportunities.

To jumpstart services it expects to launch worldwide in coming months, DoCoMo – Japan's largest mobile carrier – debuted Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol DCM. The debut followed trading of the company's ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NDCM

DoCoMo shares opened at $53.50 and ended at $53.86, up 0.7 percent, or 36 cents. The U.S. and London listings are a move to attract foreign shareholders and international business partners.

Keiji Tachikawa, President and CEO of NTT DoCoMo, called the stock exchange debuts a "corporate milestone" and reconfirmed that the company is looking to expand its wireless operations in the U.S.

"Currently, we are working with AT&T Wireless, in which we have a 16 percent equity investment," said Tachikawa. "AT&T Wireless is constructing a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network and beginning multimedia services. We expect to launch our i-mode mobile Internet and third generation mobile communications services in the U.S. in the near future."

DoCoMo's i-Mode services, used by 31 million registered users in Japan – a quarter of the country's population – feature a range of mobile solutions, including email, Web surfing, and text messaging.

Tachikawa said DoCoMo is looking to build alliances with leading U.S.-based companies such as Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, AOL Time Warner and Hewlett-Packard. As part of its global push, DoCoMo will soon launch i-mode services in Germany, Belgium and Holland.