Japan's NTT annual profit drops 8.2%, eyes rebound
Japan's biggest telecom firm NTT Corp. said Friday that annual profit dipped 8.2 percent, but added that it expects a sharp rebound this year partly due to strong domestic smartphone sales. The former monopoly said its net profit for the fiscal year through March fell to 467.70 billion yen ($5.86 billion) from 509.63 billion yen, mainly due to tax changes. Operating profit rose 0.7 percent to 1.22 trillion yen, while sales were up 2.0 percent at 10.51 trillion yen. The firm said it expected its profit in the current fiscal year would soar more than 20.0 percent to 575 billion yen as it expands its data and business solutions activity. NTT, whose business includes fixed-line and mobile phones, said it has also made foreign acquisitions "with the aim of expanding the lineup of (company) services and gaining personnel with the expertise and know-how of business operations." NTT is the parent company of several major Japanese firms, including top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo.
