Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo saw its operating revenues decline by 3.8 percent to JPY 3.51 trillion in the nine months ended 31 December 2019. Operating profit also plunged 12.7 percent to JPY 787.9 billion, and net profit dropped 10.7 percent to JPY 542.3 billion. Adjusted free cash flow reached JPY 414.3 billion, up 7.1 percent year-on-year, while capex amounted to JPY 338.1 billion, compared to JPY 389.5 billion in the year-earlier period.
Docomo's telecommunications business saw its 9-month revenues drop to JPY 2.80 trillion from JPY 3 trillion, while smart life and other businesses contributed JPY 397.5 billion and JPY 335.2 billion, respectively, in the quarter.
Total mobile subscribers were up 3 percent year-on-year to 79.67 million at the end of December 2019. Churn declined over the same period from 0.55 percent to 0.54. The Hikari fibre broadband service ended the period with 6.33 million subscribers, up 14 percent from a year ago. Mobile ARPU fell to JPY 4,970 from JPY 5,300 in December 2018, while Hikari ARPU improved to JPY 570 from JPY 490 a year ago. There were 41.46 total smartphone/tablet users in the Docomo network at end-2019, up 5 percent year-on-year.
Docomo ended December 2019 with 73.45 million D point club members, up 7 percent from 68.8 million at end-2018. The d Point Club is Docomo's points programme for consumer products and services. The number of 'd Payment' service users exceeded 22 million at end-2019, Docomo also said.
Docomo recently revised its forecast for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2020. Operating revenues are expected to increase by JPY 60 billion to JPY 4.64 trillion. Docomo expects its operating profit to reach JPY 830 billion for the fiscal year.
