Tokyo, Sept 12: NTT DoCoMo Inc has stopped developing personal handyphone system (PHS) mobile handsets due to sluggish sales and high development costs, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on Friday. The newspaper said that, by scaling down its PHS operations, Japan's dominant mobile phone company could put more focus on third-generation (3G) phone services offering speedy voice and data communications.
The company declined to comment.
DoCoMo's PHS services, which had 1.68 million users at the end of August, posted an operating loss of 28.3 billion yen ($242 million) for the year to March.

The newspaper said DoCoMo would continue the production, marketing and servicing of existing PHS models but would probably stop accepting new subscribers.
Japanese-developed PHS lost its lustre in Japan as the phones cannot be connected well in moving vehicles, but lately they have regained some popularity as mobile operators have started to offer PHS as data communications devices at fixed rates.
However, as 3G services take off, PHS business has become less important for some mobile operators. Bureau Report