Shipments of mobile phones in Japan edged down 0.1 percent in August from a year earlier to 3,989,000 units, declining for a third straight month, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said Wednesday.
The number of new subscribers continued to show sluggish growth, it said.
Shipments of personal handy-phone system handsets dropped 20.9 percent to 203,000 units, down for the sixth consecutive month, reflecting a decrease in the number of PHS subscribers.
As a result, combined shipments of mobile phones and PHS handsets dipped 1.4 percent to 4,192,000 units, down for the third straight month.
The monthly shipment data were calculated from figures supplied by 16 mobile phone manufacturers and 16 PHS makers.