Japanese mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo, has reported a larger-than-expected 7.4 per cent drop in its profit for the first half of financial year 2006-07. During the same period, the company’s operating income dropped to 516.9 billion yen from 558 billion yen a year earlier. This can be attributed to its increased expenditure on shifting users to high speed services. Costs are expected to rise further with the implementation of number portability.
Meanwhile, the company’s main competitor, KDDI, with 28 per cent market share, has posted a 38 per cent increase in its first-half operating profit to 229.5 billion yen due to popular mobile services such as music downloads.
