NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan’s largest mobile-phone operator, said third-quarter profit rose 48 percent, buoyed by the absence of a one-time charge from lower stock valuations and asset writedowns a year earlier.

Net income rose to 134.6 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31 from 91 billion yen a year earlier, the Tokyo-based carrier said today. It left its full-year profit and sales forecasts unchanged.

DoCoMo and rivals Softbank Corp. and KDDI Corp. are offering cheaper plans to encourage data use as revenue from voice traffic declines. DoCoMo cut data rates twice last year and is expanding its lineup of mobile phones that can surf the Internet and download music, videos and software, such as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB’s Xperia.

DoCoMo fell 0.9 percent to close at 135,300 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange before earnings were reported. The stock has added 4.4 percent this year, after declining 27 percent in 2009.

Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, rose 28 percent to 217.4 billion yen in the quarter as revenue declined 1.3 percent to 1.097 trillion yen, DoCoMo said. Analyst estimates for the quarter ranged between 208.9 billion yen and 219.9 billion yen for operating income and 1.07 trillion yen and 1.1 trillion yen for sales, according to Bloomberg data.

DoCoMo’s third-quarter operating profit was weighed down last year by a 46.8 billion yen charge to write down assets of its older service, the company said in January 2009. Net income in the quarter was reduced by an 8 billion yen loss from lower stock valuations.

The carrier is discontinuing its second-generation mobile- phone services by March 2012 to concentrate on third-generation technology.

 source:bloomberg