Japan Nov domestic cellphone shipments up 11.2 pct year-on-year

Domestic shipments of cellphones in November were 11.2 pct higher than a year earlier at 4.61 mln phones, rising for the second straight month, data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) show.

In October, the cellphone carriers here -- NTT DoCoMo Inc (other-otc: NTDMF.PK - news - people ), KDDI Corp and Softbank Mobile -- began allowing subscribers to switch carriers without changing their phone numbers, causing a spike in demand for new cellphones.

Excluding personal handyphone system (PHS) phones, shipments were 14.4 pct higher in November than a year before at 4.52 mln, rising for second straight month.

Shipments of PHS phones were 54.6 pct lower at 89,000, falling for the third straight month.