Cumulative shipments in Japan of third-generation mobile phones compatible with digital terrestrial television broadcast services topped 20 million units in January for the first instance since the service began in April 2006, an industry group said Wednesday. Shipments of the “one-segment” digital TV mobile phones came to 20,473,000 units, the

Japan Electronics and data Technology Industries organization said.

Total shipments of mobile phones in Japan in December increased 24.9 pct to 4,954,000 units, up for the second straight month. Sales of 3G handsets grew 27.2 pct to 4,762,000 units in the month thanks to robust demand for new models.