Profits rise at Japan mobile firm

DoCoMo has seen a surge in its 3G subscriber base

Japanese mobile phone network giant NTT DoCoMo has seen its annual net profits triple to 650bn yen ($5.8bn; £3.3bn) for the year ending March 2004.

The giant rise, boosted by an upsurge in the take-up of next generation or 3G video phones, was further helped by its comparison with losses last year.

DoCoMo's annual pre-tax profit rose by 5.6% to 1.1 trillion yen, on revenues of 5.05 trillion yen.

In the last month of the year the firm saw a 50% leap in its 3G subscriptions.

DoCoMo said this giant rise to 3.05 million subscribers was boosted by a new line of sleek phones.

Yet for 3G take-up the company still trails behind rival KDDI, which has 17 million customers on the next generation service.

By 31 March 2005, DoCoMo said it expects to increase its SG subscription count to 10.6 million people, with net profits for the year rising to 751bn yen, on reduced revenue of 4.9 trillion yen in the face of fierce competition.

"Our operating revenues and income are projected to decrease as we have decided to carry out rate cuts," said DoCoMo chief executive Keiji Tachikawa.