KDDI recorded strong profit growth in its fiscal third quarter (to end-December 2019), with steady gains in mobile service revenue driven by continued customer additions and rising tariffs.

Net profit rose 14.3 per cent year-on-year to JPY183 billion ($1.68 billion); operating revenue was up 2.2 per cent to JPY1.34 trillion, with consumer wireless service revenue increasing 2 per cent to JPY1.17 trillion. MVNO sales grew 38.6 per cent to JPY16.9 billion, while handset revenue fell 17 per cent to JPY179 billion.

Mobile subscriptions grew 7 per cent to 58.1 million, with average revenue per account (ARPA) rising 4.2 per cent to JPY7,770.

In a statement, the company highlighted the production of a management plan covering fiscal 2019 to 2021, which aims to ensure sustainable growth while allowing for swift response to the changing business environment. It plans to invest in customer acquisition, and its digital payment business is running a campaign to give JPY7 billion of cash back to au Pay customers in the current quarter (its fiscal Q4).

KDDI said total IoT connections surpassed 10 million by end-December.

As for its planned commercial launch of 5G service using non-standalone technology in March, it stated only that it was “steadily upgrading its infrastructure”.