DoCoMo closes in on Softbank in signing new users

TOKYO, July 7 (Reuters) - NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T), Japan's biggest wireless carrier, closed in on upstart Softbank Corp (9984.T) in the number of net new customers in June, as fewer customers fled the bigger firm.

Softbank, which launched sales of Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) latest iPhone 3GS model on June 26, logged 112,900 new customers, after deducting cancellations.

It was the 26th straight month that Softbank led its rivals in net new sign-ups, thanks to aggressive advertising and cheaper rates.

But DoCoMo, which controls half of Japan's mobile market, came a close second to Softbank with a net 112,400 new users, as it secured users with long-term contracts and low-cost plans for unlimited data downloads.

KDDI Corp (9433.T) Japan's second-largest wireless carrier, lagged with 43,800 net new mobile phone users.

KDDI was outpaced by eAccess Ltd's (9427.T) mobile unit eMobile, which signed on 91,600 new net users. Some 90 percent of eMobile's customers use its data cards for wireless Internet access, rather than phone calls.

Softbank, whose growth threatens to outpace its network capacity, has forced its bigger rivals to follow suit in price cuts, ever since it bought Vodafone's (VOD.L) Japan unit in 2006.

Shares of DoCoMo closed up 1.6 percent, KDDI was up 3.1 percent, while Softbank closed down 0.4 percent. (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Rodney Joyce)