NTT DoCoMo Inc, Japan’s top mobile phone operator, has declared its quarterly profit which rose 45 percent after it slashed incentives on handsets, and it kept its full-year forecast for small earnings growth.

DoCoMo, which has KDDI Corp and Softbank Corp as competitors in Japan’s tough mobile market, said its group operating profit totalled 296.5 billion yen ($2.75 billion) in the three months ended June, against a 203.9 billion yen profit a year earlier.

For the year to March, DoCoMo kept its profit forecast at 830 billion yen, up 2.7 percent from the previous year.

DoCoMo’s earnings were boosted by the introduction in November of an instalment payment plan, which shrank incentives paid to handset retailers and lowered the company’s cost burden.

Slower handset sales dented overall sales in the quarter, but helped profits by reducing procurement costs and distribution fees.

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