J-Phone sells 3 million camera phones

By staff and wire reports

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japan Telecom has sold 3 million camera-equipped cell phones in the 14 months they've been on the shelf.

The company's J-Phone wireless subsidiary started selling the phones in November 2000. J-Phone said this week that it crossed 3 million in sales through December.

The novel gadget allows users to take pictures with a tiny built-in camera and send them with mobile messages.

Demand for the phones grew in the second half of last year, helping Japan Telecom offset its loss-making fixed-line operations.

The parent company lost 5.2 billion yen ($42.4 million) in the first six months of the business year.

Pricey, but in demand

The camera cell phone carries a high price tag, at 40,000 to 50,000 yen ($305-$382).

But camera-phone users represented 24 percent of J-Phone's overall subscribers in November, up from 7.4 percent in May, the company says.

J-Phone president Darryl Green told reporters in November that the company's new camera handsets helped boost average sales per user for data up 500 yen from a year ago, to 1,000 yen.

Japan Telecom, which is now controlled by Britain's Vodafone, has relied on its mobile unit J-Phone to lift its earnings.

In November, Vodafone executive William Murrow took over as Japan Telecom's president.

Helping with market share

Vodafone has expressed disappointment with Japan Telecom's money-losing fixed-line business. But it denies rumors that it plans to sell it off to focus on wireless.

J-Phone is Japan's third-largest mobile carrier, after NTT DoCoMo and KDDI. J-Phone had 11.42 million subscribers in November, or 17.2 percent of the mobile market.

Green said in a statement that the company captured 33.2 percent of new subscribers in November and expected a similar result for December.

For the full year to March, Japan Telecom forecasted a 2 billion yen consolidated net loss compared with a net profit of 10 billion yen a year earlier.

Shares in Japan Telecom closed up 2.76 percent at 409,000 yen on Monday, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei which edged up 0.65 percent.

Reuters contributed to this report.