9984:JP
Softbank Corp
Softbank to Allow Pre-Paid Users to Switch to Monthly Services
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Softbank Corp., owner of Japan's third-largest wireless operator, said it will allow pre-paid users to change to its monthly subscription services without having to switch their phone numbers.
The company, which has more than 1 million pre-paid phone users, will start the service on Oct. 23, a day before mobile phone users will be able to switch carriers without changing their numbers, Softbank said in a release today. The Tokyo-based company wants to avoid losing its pre-paid phone users to other operators, said spokesman Katsuhide Furuya.
Retaining customers has taken on greater importance in Japan's $76 billion wireless market because the government will allow number portability from Oct. 24. Softbank and bigger rival NTT DoCoMo Inc. are introducing 35 handset models this fiscal year, focusing on phones that play music and video conference, to lure Japanese subscribers and prevent them from defecting.
``Softbank's new service for pre-paid users is positive because the company will be able to retain them,'' said Hironobu Sawake, a telecommunications analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. in Tokyo. Softbank had 1.5 million users for pre-paid phones at the end of March, the highest in the industry, he said.
Softbank doesn't disclose the number.
DoCoMo had a 56 percent share of Japan's 96 million mobile phone subscribers, while KDDI has 28 percent. Softbank, which bought Vodafone Group Plc's Japanese unit in April, has a 16 percent share.
Quelle: Bloomberg
SFTB 2,645Yen +140.00 +5.59 %
