|
Softbank to Waive Initial Handset Fees to Woo Users
By Yoshinori Eki and Pavel Alpeyev
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Softbank Corp., owner of Japan's third-largest mobile phone operator, said it will waive initial handset costs to lure customers two days after new rules make it easier for subscribers to switch carriers.
New users from bigger rivals NTT DoCoMo Inc. or KDDI Corp. and existing subscribers getting a new phone will instead pay a monthly handset fee, Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son told reporters in Tokyo today.
Softbank earlier this week cut monthly charges to woo customers, something DoCoMo and KDDI haven't done yet, as subscribers can now switch carriers without changing phone numbers. The delayed handset payments may help pad Tokyo-based Softbank's assets needed to refinance $10.7 billion of debt, said analyst Hironobu Sawake.
``The new plans are not increasing financial risk for the company, as long Softbank doesn't lose its existing users,'' said Sawake, a telecommunications analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. in Tokyo. ``The company may record the cost of incentives as a consumer advance, making it an asset.''
He has an ``underperform'' rating on Softbank.
Son, Japan's richest man, on Oct. 13 pledged a record amount of collateral to refinance the debt for taking over Vodafone Group Plc's Japanese unit. The company offered its Vodafone unit's assets, income and shares as security for $12 billion of bonds and loans it plans to sell next month.
Shares of the company rose 3.7 percent to 2,685 yen as of 1 p.m. in Tokyo, compared with a 0.9 percent gain in the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.
|