NTT Third-Quarter Net Gains 6% as DoCoMo Profit Rises
Nippon Telegraph %26amp; Telephone Corp.,
Japans largest phone operator, said third-quarter profit rose 6
percent on higher earnings from its mobile-phone unit.
Net income rose to 125.7 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the
three months ended Dec. 31, from 118.6 billion yen a year
earlier, Tokyo-based NTT said today. Operating profit, or sales
minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses,
climbed 13 percent to 310.4 billion yen, it said.
Gains in the mobile phone business, which accounts for
about two-thirds of the companys operating income, helped
offset declines in subscribers to NTTs fixed-line phone service.
The former phone monopoly is marketing its fiber-optic network
services that combine television, Web browsing and telephone to
reduce its reliance on subsidiary NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japans
largest mobile-phone operator.
Sales fell 0.9 percent to 2.66 trillion yen, NTT said. The
company left its full-year earnings outlook unchanged.
DoCoMo last month reported its first profit gain in seven
quarters, after it reduced discounts on handsets. Net income at
the Tokyo-based company climbed 38 percent to 130 billion yen in
the quarter ended Dec. 31.
The number of subscribers to NTTs fixed-line phone
decreased 8.5 percent to 40.6 million as of Dec. 31, less than
DoCoMos 53.2 million, the company said. Users of the companys
fiber-optic Internet-access service rose in the third quarter,
Chief Executive Officer Satoshi Miura told reporters at a news
briefing in Tokyo.
NTT in November said net income will rise 11 percent to 530
billion yen for the 12 months to March 31, because of a one-time
reduction in pension payments after a regulatory change. Sales
are estimated to drop 1.5 percent to 10.6 trillion yen, because
of revenue loss from unused telephone cards, NTT said at the
time.
The companys stock rose 0.6 percent to 506,000 yen at the
close of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, trimming losses
this year to 9.5 percent. The company reported earnings after
markets shut.
