Vodafone is in talks to sell its fixed-line business Japan Telecom.
One of the bidders is US private equity group Ripplewood, according to a Vodafone statement in Japan.
Vodafone acquired 66.7 per cent of Japan Telecom and 40 per cent of its mobile phone subsidiary J-Phone for £7 billion in 2001, and now holds them in a company called Japan Telecom Holdings.
Selling off the fixed-line business, widely predicted at the time of the acquisition, will allow Vodafone to concentrate on its mobile phone operation in Japan which has seen rapid growth on the back of picture messaging.
Vodafone made Japan the test bed for its third generation phone services, which offers high-speed Internet connections and face-to-face video phone calls, when it launched last December.
But J-Phone was the one dark spot when Vodafone published its third quarter subscriber numbers last week.
The operation has a 20% market share but has seen a decline in average revenue per user as lower-spending customers have signed up to its service.
Vodafone also announced today it is discussing proposed offers for the shares it does not own in Europolitan Vodafone, Vodafone Libertel and Vodafone Telecel- Communicacoes Pessoais, its quoted subsidiaries in Sweden, the Netherlands and Portugal.
PA