NTT looks to lift profit margin

Carrier NTT aims to boost profitability over the next three years

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan's dominant carrier Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp said on Monday it aims to boost profitability over the next three years and will pursue restructuring steps.

These steps include a shift of personnel from regional carriers to more profitable units.

"The reallocation of personnel from NTT East and NTT West to other companies in the group will be further expanded," the carrier said in a statement.

NTT also said it aimed for a consolidated NTT group earnings margin before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 33 percent of revenues by March 2004.

The statement did not give NTT's latest EBITDA margin, although the company's consolidated operating profit in the six months to September 30 was 610.2 billion yen ($4.90 billion), or 11 percent of revenues of 5.49 trillion yen

Lower rates for faster household services

NTT also said it would launch optic-fiber services for Japanese households at low rates while trimming rates for high-speed ADSL connections.

It said it would begin providing 100 megabit-per-second optic-fiber connections to users in July in certain regions of Japan.

It will also offer 10 megabit-per-second services to households at a rate of 5,900 yen ($47.50) per month, including equipment fees.

NTT said the service area would be steadily expanded over the next five years.

The carrier said it would cut rates on its asymmetric dedicated subscriber line (ADSL) service to 3,800 yen per month from 4,050 yen per month.

NTT has been the target of criticism for its high connection rates, which have been blamed for hindering the growth of Internet use in Japan.

The announcement came after the close of trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. NTT's shares ended ended down 0.78 percent at 759,000 yen, in line with a drop of nearly one percent in the technology-sensitive Nikkei average

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