Apr. 28--TOKYO -- NTT Docomo Inc. said Tuesday its group net profit declined 3.9 percent to 471.87 billion yen in fiscal 2008 chiefly because it booked 75.7 billion yen in depreciation costs related to telecom facilities for its MOVA service.

The mobile service provider said it is bringing forward the booking of depreciation costs for the MOVA facilities as it is discontinuing the second-generation telecom service on March 31, 2012, to concentrate on more sophisticated services.

In its earnings statement for the 12-month period ended March 31, the company said the same expense factor led its pretax profit to fall 2.5 percent to 780.47 billion yen on a 5.6 percent fall in operating revenues to 4.45 trillion yen.

But its operating profit rose 2.8 percent to 830.96 billion yen as the combined expense for handsets procured from wholesale producers, which are supplied to agents that sell NTT Docomo handsets and conclude subscription contracts, shrank amid the overall slumping market and resulting falls in the number of cellphones sold to agents.

The company said it will pay a full-year dividend of 4,800 yen per share, including a midterm dividend of 2,400 yen already paid.

The full-year and midterm amounts are identical to those paid a year earlier.

For the whole of fiscal 2009, the company is forecasting that its net profit will rise 6.6 percent to 832 billion yen, although its operating profit will dip 0.1 percent to 830 billion yen on projected operating revenues of 4.38 trillion yen, down 1.5 percent.

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