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DoCoMo profits fall by over EUR2.99bn
Wednesday, May 08 2002
by Ciaran Buckley


The poor performance of overseas investments dragged down full-year net profits
at NTT DoCoMo to EUR7.4 million, compared to over EUR3 billion last year. 

The company, which pioneered "i-mode" Internet-enabled mobile phones and
third-generation (3G) mobile services, said net profits amounted to YEN862
million (EUR7.4 million), down from last year's net profits of YEN365.5 billion.
The company's operating profits rose 29 percent to YEN1,000 billon while its
sales rose 10.4 percent to YEN1,170 billion. 



But full year write-downs in overseas investments, such as the company's stake in
AT&T Wireless in the US and Royal KPN NV in Europe, forced the Japanese 
wireless operator to post a special loss of YEN812.8 billion in its fiscal year.
DOCoMo's write-down the value of its 16 percent stake in AT&T Wireless amounted
to YEN506 billion in the second half alone. 



In its forecasts, NTT DoCoMo predicts growth, but at a slower rate than in the
past. Six out of every ten Japanese mobile phone users are NTT DoCoMo customers.
With the home market approaching saturation, the company said its subscriber base
should grow by 3.9 percent this year, down from last year's 13.3 percent growth.




It also predicted that its 3G services would prove more popular, and that the
number of 3G customers would increase from 89,000 to almost 1.4 million people by
next March. 



The company said it was also looking abroad for expansion opportunities, despite
recent setbacks. Last month the French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom said it
was to introduce the i-mode system of offering Internet-style information and
services to its customers.

NTT DoCoMo's shares fell almost on percent ahead of the earnings announcement,
which came after the markets had closed.