Japanese operator NTT reported an 8.4 percent rise in net profit for the nine months to December to JPY 484.3 billion, its highest result in five years. Revenues rose 1.3 percent to JPY 8.025 trillion, and operating profit was own 0.8 percent to JPY 985.1 billion. NTT managed to grow revenues in its international business, but was still under pressure in Japan, where it worked on controlling costs in fixed broadband and mobile marketing.
Free cash flow fell to JPY 90.2 billion from JPY 266.9 billion in the year-earlier period, due to increased handset sales and acquisition costs. Capital expenditure was down slightly to JPY 1.309 trillion, in line with the outlook for a small reduction over the full year to JPY 1.870 trilion. The company said it was on track to meet its oulook for the fiscal year to March, for revenues of JPY 11 trillion and net profit of JPY 585 billion. It also plans a small increase in the dividend, to JPY 170 per share.
The NTT group ended the period with 17.87 million customers for its fibre optic service called Flet's Hikari, after adding 201,000 new subscribers since September. The company aims to attract 1 million new subscribers this year. The company also had 15.95 million Hikari Denwa customers after adding 286,000 new customers for the optical IP telephone service, while the ADSL customer base continued to contract to 1.37 million. The higher number of telephony customers helped the company book a small increase in ARPU over optical lines in the quarter. NTT also had 4.19 million TV subscribers, comprising 2.73 million Hikari TV subscribes and 1.11 million Flet's TV customers.
