Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

Feb. 2, 2009

NTT DoCoMo says its net profit for the April to December 2008 period rose about 16 percent when compared with 2007's numbers.

The Japaneze wireless carrier has benefited from a new installment-based system for selling handsets and a slowdown in the number of subscribers going to rivals.

DoCoMo's posted a net profit of 437.7 billion Yen (US $4.8 billion) during the nine-month period from 376.5 billion Yen in 2007. Operating income rose 19 percent to 746.8 billion Yen, while revenue fell 4 percent to 3.38 trillion Yen.

As of Dec. 31 2008, NTT DoCoMo had 54.16 million subscribers, up 220,000 from three months earlier. The company holds a 50 percent share of Japan's massive mobile phone market, but rivals KDDI and Softbank Mobile have been aggressive as well in luring new subscribers away with lower fees since the start of mobile number portability in October 2006.

However, DoCoMo said it managed to attract even more subscribers than it lost in December due to its comprehensive review of its operations from customer relations to handsets and network development in order to enhance customer satisfaction.

DoCoMo's earnings results are always based on U.S. accounting standards, the company stated.

Overall, NTT DoCoMo maintained its forecast for the full fiscal year through March. It expects net income of 495 billion Yen, operating profit of 830 billion Yen and revenue of 4.6 trillion Yen.

NTT DoCoMo is Japan's top wireless phone carrier, with more than 96.3 million subscribers. It has had a compounded average growth rate of approximately 8.4 percent for the past 5 years.

But DoCoMo warns that growth for 2009 and 2010 will be lower by at least 3 to 4 percent.

Add to del.icio.us     Digg this

    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: NTT DoCoMo.