KDDI Corp. said Monday its operating profit rose 15.6 percent to 140.9 billion yen for April to June year on year, thanks to cost-cutting and its mobile phone handsets with new features such as digital TV reception.
Net profit increased 9 percent to 82.5 billion yen in the first business quarter of 2007. Sales rose 5.7 percent to 844.1 billion yen.
Japan's second-largest mobile phone operator gained the most subscribers among other operators since the number portability system, which allows users to change mobile telephone service providers without changing their cell phone numbers, started in October.
The system helped KDDI gain 1 million customers, thanks to services such as digital television broadcasts on handsets, it said.
However, Softbank Corp., the third-biggest mobile company, added the most subscribers in June for the second straight month.
"Rather than aiming to increase new subscribers, we want to lock in existing subscribers," KDDI President Tadashi Onodera said.
KDDI also said it spent 35,000 yen on average to subsidize each handset for the first quarter, down from 38,000 yen a year ago. The practice is designed to keep handset prices low.
The company said last week it will cut mobile phone fees by as much as 50 percent after NTT DoCoMo Inc. announced similar discount plans. Softbank followed suit after KDDI's announcement.
Meanwhile, the net loss in KDDI's land-line phone business came to 7.4 billion yen, worse than the 4.1 billion yen a year earlier. Sales decreased 1.3 percent to 176.5 billion yen.
For the whole year, KDDI maintained its forecast that net profit will rise 18 percent to 220 billion yen.
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