Japan's NTT sees quarterly profit rise

TOKYO: Japan's top telecom operator NTT said Thursday net profit rose 11.7 percent in the April-June quarter from the previous year, and maintained its annual forecasts.

The telecommunications firm booked a group net profit of 155.94 billion yen (1.8 billion dollars) in the fiscal first quarter, up from 139.56 billion yen in the same period a year earlier.

Operating profit rose 4.3 percent to 339.65 billion yen from 325.77 billion, while revenue dipped 0.2 percent to 2.499 trillion yen from 2.503 trillion.

Its mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. last week reported a slump in profit for the first quarter, which declined 3.5 percent year on year to 142.15 billion yen, amid tough market competition from iPhone-touting rival Softbank.

For the full fiscal year through March, NTT continues to forecast a net profit of 500 billion yen, operating profit of 1.165 trillion and revenue of 10.160 trillion.