Shizuo Koyama DDI Tokyo Pocket President

The DDI Pocket Telephone (DDI-P) Group, consisting of nine regional PHS carriers, has announced a net profit of 2 billion yen for the first half of FY 1998 (April 1, 1998 to September 30, 1998) -- the group’s first half-year profit since its establishment in 1994. The group also estimates its first full-year net profit as about 4 billion yen for FY 1998 (ending March 31, 1999). DDI-P had initially anticipated that it would have to wait until the end of FY 1998 to achieve 2 billion-yen level profits.

Improved Health

This shows that the financial health of the DDI-P Group has dramatically improved since FY 1997, when it suffered a net loss of 18.2 billion yen for the full-year.
Over the last several months, the number of PHS subscribers has been on the decline, and DDI-P Group has also seen sluggish subscription growth. It is against this backdrop that the DDI-P has successfully made a large profit by promoting services that capitalize on PHS strengths. For instance, the group’s message and data transmission services have dramatically increased call traffic, boosting midterm revenues by 14% in FY 1998 compared to the same period the year before.*

Confidence Regained

DDI-P Group is the first PHS carrier to have announced a half-year profit. This marks a large step toward the PHS carriers’ recovering from previous accumulated losses. DDI-P Group has proven the competitiveness and viability of PHS, and this will also encourage other carriers introducing PHS systems.

* Changes in both data transmission and telephony traffic can be seen on the web site of PHS MoU Group: http://www.phsmou.org/
Go to 3rd Annual PHS Symposium, and Public PHS Service in Japan sections