Leading Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo said Friday that net profit for the three months to the of June dropped 24.9 per cent year on year to Y122.8bn ($1bn) due to intense competition and ARPU losses.

The introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) and aggressive tariffs from KDDI and Softbank have put the squeeze on DoCoMo, which saw aggregate ARPU for its 3G Foma and 2G Mova services fall 4.9 per cent to Y6,560.

DoCoMo’s operating revenues for the quarter dropped 2.9 per cent year on year to Y1.1tn as voice ARPU fell 9.9 per cent but data ARPU increased 7.6 per cent.