Vodafone drafts 'DoCoMo prince' to compete in Japan

Once written off by analysts, Vodafone's Japan unit may have made the right call in snaring the rival's one-time CEO candidate.

Once written off by analysts and rivals, British mobile operator Vodafone Group Plc's struggling Japan unit may have made the right call in snaring rival NTT DoCoMo Inc's one-time CEO candidate.

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The appointment this week of Shiro Tsuda, who was known as "DoCoMo's prince", as president and CEO could give Japan's third-largest mobile operator, Vodafone Holdings KK, the break it needs to turn itself around after drops in revenue and customer losses.

But analysts have stopped short of lauding the move, instead taking a wait-and-see approach.

"A lot will depend on how much decision-making power he will get," said telecoms analyst with Deutsche Bank, Tetsuro Tsusaka.

"The rest will depend on whether Tsuda will show some guts in managing the company. At any rate, it will take time. The company is a mess right now."

Tsuda, who had been groomed for a key executive role since he joined DoCoMo parent Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. 34 years ago, has already shown "guts" by taking the rare move of defecting to a rival company in a country that counts loyalty as one of its most important values.