UPDATE 1-DoCoMo net new sign-ups up 60 pct in March

* DoCoMo net new sign-ups rose 60 pct in March

* Softbank sign-ups down but leads for 22nd straight month

TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - Japan's biggest mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) signed up 60 percent more new users in March, as its lower phone prices won back customers in a key sales month ahead of the new academic year.

DoCoMo, which revamped its brand last year with bigger discounts for long-time users and cheaper cellphones, signed up 278,200 new users on a net basis compared with the same month a year earlier.

DoCoMo nudged out second-ranked KDDI Corp (9433.T), which gained 223,100 net new users, but continued to trail third-ranked Softbank Corp (9984.T), which scored 381,700 net sign-ups.

Subscriber gain at Softbank was down 30 percent, but it beat its rivals for the 22nd straight month helped by low-cost fee plans and aggressive advertising.

No.4 eAccess (9427.T) signed up 121,900 net new users, on strong sales of wireless data cards sold with smaller and cheaper laptops such as Asusek Computer's (2357.TW) Eee PC.

The number of net sign-ups subtracts the number of cancellations from the number of new users. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)