12:00PM Mew York - National Telegraph and Telephone third quarter profit rose 6% to 125.7 billion yen from 118.6 billion yen a year ago[/R]

Quarterly Earnings Review

NTT reported third quarter sales rose 0.9% to 2.66 trillion yen year-on-year on strong performance of the data communication business.

Third quarter net income climbed 6% to 125.7 billion yen from 118.6 billion yen a year earlier.

Operating income in the quarter jumped 13% from the comparable period a year earlier to 310.4 billion in the latest quarter.

Nine-Month Earnings Review

In the nine months ended December 31st, operating revenue slumped 1.1% to 1.844 trillion yen from 7.930 trillion yen a year ago on weak performance from the mobile communication business and the long distance and international communication business.

Operating income also declined 9.6% to 874 billion yen from 968.5 billion yen realised in the same period last year.

Furthermore, net income in the nine months fell 21.8% to 320.8 billion yen from 410 billion yen a year ago. Earnings per share declined to 23,229 yen per share from 29,674 yen per share a year earlier.

Revenue

Operating revenue declined notwithstanding revenue increases of System Integration or IP and Packet transmission charge as revenue from the voice-related services fell.

In the nine months ended December 31st, the regional communications business rose to 2.640 trillion yen from 2.702 trillion yen realised a year ago.

In addition, the long distance and international communication business fell to 850 billion yen from 855 billion yen a year earlier.

The Data communication business in the nine months under review rose to 640 billion yen from 590 billion yen.

Outlook

NTT forecasted full-year revenue growth of 1.5% year-on-year to 10.6 billion yen.

Operating income is expected to rise 19.2% to 1.32 trillion yen.

The company projects net income growth of 11.1% in the fiscal year to 530 billion yen, or 38.7 yen per share.