Softbank Profit Fourfold Level Year Ago

Tokyo-based Softbank Corp. said revenue from its stake in Chinese technology company Alibaba Group also helped lift October-December profit to 93.20 billion yen (US$875.1 million; euro598.5 million) from 21.93 billion yen in the same period the previous year.

Nine-month sales rose 13 percent to 2.059 trillion yen (US$19.33 billion; euro13.22 billion) from 1.882 trillion yen.

The mobile carrier, which did not break down quarterly results or give forecasts, has been wrenching people away from the nation's top two mobile companies NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp. by slashing prices.

Softbank, which owns a stake in Yahoo Japan, and also offers Internet services, has been aggressive in wooing users with discounts and TV advertising since it bought the struggling Japanese operation of British cellular giant Vodafone Group PLC in 2006.

Softbank gained 200,700 subscribers to its mobile phone service in January, giving it a total 17.81 million users.

Japanese have been ahead of users in other nations in using cell phones to search for restaurants, exchange e-mail, make electronic payments, read digital novels and download music.

Like mobile phone offerings from rivals, Softbank's latest handsets show digital TV broadcasts and come with sophisticated digital cameras.