Japan's Softbank wins coveted high-speed bandwidth

TOKYO Feb 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Communications Ministry panel said on Wednesday that it will allocate Softbank Corp a coveted 900 Megahertz spectrum for high-speed mobile services, as Japan's No.3 mobile phone operator races to strengthen its network.

Softbank, which supplies Apple Inc's iPhone in Japan along with KDDI Corp, is locked in a race to beef up telecommunications networks in a mobile market dominated by NTT Docomo Inc.

KDDI and NTT Docomo already have the rights to high-quality bandwidths. Expectations that Softbank would gain the rights have helped its share price rally 14 percent this month.