InStat says DoCoMo will retreat from enforcing its requirement that AT&T Wireless install 3G service in four U.S. cities by 2005: Analyst Alan Nogee wrote in a recent newsletter (apparently not archived online) that NTT DoCoMo will write off what he describes as a $3 billion loss, and that the equipment that AT&T Wireless had contracted for has probably not even been shipped yet. The W-CDMA flavor that AT&T Wireless would have to deploy in the U.S. is unique.
Other reports indicated that DoCoMo faced a $10 billion cash loss from its investment and much higher paper losses, and that the amount in questions was over $6 billion that AT&T Wireless would have to repay if it failed to meet the 3G target buildout.
Nogee's comments in a newsletter dated today directly contradict a report earlier this week at internetnews.com in which they interviewed the principals.