The mobile carrier plans more LTE base stations by end of March
Japanese telecom operator NTT DoCoMo said its “Premium” LTE service is currently available in 825 cities across Japan, according to a company presentation. The service, which was launched in March 2014, offers download speeds of up to 225 megabits per second using LTE-Advanced technology.
NTT DoCoMo has already deployed 18,500 base stations across Japan in support of service. The Japanese operator said it’s looking to deploy a total of 18,000 base stations by the end of March. The telco offers the Premium LTE service using a combination of spectrum in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1.5 GHz, 1.7 GHz and 2 GHz bands.
NTT DoCoMo is also offering a 300 Mbps LTE service in 535 cities across the Asian nation. The company had previously announced plans to launch a 370 Mbps LTE service tapping spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band during fiscal year 2016.
By the end of the third fiscal quarter of 2015, which ended December 31, the Japanese operator claimed 36.29 million LTE subscribers, up 28.3% year-on-year. The telco ended 2015 with 126,000 LTE base stations across Japan. NTT DoCoMo said a total of 130,000 LTE base stations will be deployed nationwide by the end of March.
For the first three quarters of fiscal 2015, NTT DoCoMo posted a net profit of 492.4 billion yen ($4.04 billion), an increase compared to the 381.9 billion yen in the same quarter the previous fiscal year. Net sales during the period amounted to 3.38 trillion yen, up from 3.33 trillion yen in the year-ago period.
NTT DoCoMo’s capital expenditures for the nine months ending in December 31 totaled 362.5 billon yen, down 17.5% compared to the same period in fiscal 2014. The operator said it pursued a more efficient use of capital expenditures and further cost reductions during the last quarters.
Total smartphone sales during the first three quarters of fiscal 2015 reached 10.98 million, up 5% year-over-year. NTT DoCoMo also sold more than 1.6 million tablets during the same period.
Bharti Airtel ends 2015 with more 243 million mobile subscribers
In other APAC news, Indian telecom firm Bharti Airtel said it served 243.3 million mobile phone subscribers in India at the end of the fiscal third quarter of 2016, a 12% increased compared to the same time the previous fiscal year.
Taking into account the telco’s operations in India, South Asia and Africa, the carrier’s total customer base hit 336.1 million customers at end of December, climbing 12.2% vs. the same quarter the previous year.
Bharti Airtel’s net profit for the quarter reached 11.2 billion rupees ($170 million), down 22% compared to 14.3 billion rupees in the same quarter in fiscal 2015. The operator reported total revenue of 240.6 billion rupees, an increase of 4% from 232.2 billion the same quarter the previous fiscal year. Revenue from India grew 9% year-on-year in fiscal Q3.
Total capex for the third fiscal quarter totaled 55 billion rupees, surging 22% year-on-year.
Bharti Airtel initially launched India’s first LTE network in Kolkata in April 2012, using spectrum in the 2300 MHz band. In the 3G segment, the operator ended December with 77,551 sites across India, compared to 41,850 sites at the end of December 2014.
Bharti Airtel has operations in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and 17 countries in Africa.
