TOKYO—Mobile handset shipments during 2001 decreased by 1.8 percent on the year to 50.77 million units, Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) announced. It is the first time the annual shipment figure decreased.
“We cannot expect a big increase in the figure in the future. However, I believe that the shipment will increase slightly by launching of new products with more advanced functions,” said a JEITA spokesman.
According to JEITA, shipments of cellular phones in 2001 dropped by 0.3 percent to 47.5 million units, and shipments of PHS units decreased by 19.2 percent to 3.25 million units.
On the same day, JEITA also announced that shipments of mobile phones in December 2001 dropped by 34.2 percent on the year to 3.11 million units.
Meanwhile, Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA) last week announced the number of cellular-phone subscribers as of the end of January reached 67.53 million, a 15-percent increase for the year, and the country’s mobile penetration rate is 53.1 percent. However the net increase in subscribers in January was 435,500, the lowest recorded since January 1996, when TCA started tracking the statistics.
