UPDATE 1-Softbank to hawk rival NTT's fiber-optic service-Nikkei
June 19 (Reuters) - Japan's wireless carrier Softbank Corp (9984.T) has plans to go national with the sale of Flet's Hikari-branded fiber-optic broadband services from the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T) group next month, The Nikkei business daily reported Friday.
The decision effectively marks the end of Softbank's challenge to NTT, it reported.
In 2004, Softbank launched a high-speed fiber-optic service under the Yahoo! BB brand by leasing circuits from the NTT group.
"Softbank eventually gave in because of high leasing fees. The company now plans to increase the prefectures to 47 in Japan on July 1," the business daily said.
With the Yahoo! BB fiber-optic service proving unprofitable, Softbank has decided to terminate the service by year end in areas where it is losing money, affecting several thousand subscribers in the customer base of 70,000 to 80,000, the daily said.
Softbank will urge these subscribers to switch over to its ADSL broadband service or to Flet's Hikari, the Nikkei said. (Reporting by Mansi Dutta in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)
