7th Oct - Softbank Wins Subscriber Crown For 6th Month In Row

Softbank Mobile Corp. said Thursday it gained 332,600 new subscribers on a net basis in September, taking the top spot among mobile carriers for the sixth straight month.

The Softbank Corp. group firm continued to see strong sales of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4 smartphone. Softbank Mobile is the exclusive mobile service provider for the iPhone.

Softbank Mobile's subscriber base grew at a record monthly pace, excluding the month of March, which is the busiest month for sales.

For the April-September half, the company gained a total 1.598 million new subscribers on a net basis, a record high for a fiscal half.

NTT DoCoMo Inc. came second with 109,400 new subscribers. Its net gain was smaller than a month earlier, because more and more DoCoMo subscribers shifted to rival carriers, due partly to the popular iPhone, according to the company.

KDDI Corp. placed third, gaining a net 91,400 new subscribers.

Coming in fourth was eAccess Ltd. an affiliate Emobile Ltd. with 68,500.