DoCoMo loses users in August, Softbank makes gains

(Recasts lead, adds share price)

TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T), Japan's top mobile phone carrier, lost a net 22,900 users in August amid an escalating price war, losing out to much smaller rival Softbank Corp (9984.T). Upstart No.3 carrier Softbank signed up 188,900 net subscribers in August beating its bigger rivals for the fourth straight month. It was trailed by No.2 KDDI Corp (9433.T), which gained 158,500 subscribers, data released by the operators showed on Friday.

It was DoCoMo's second decline in net subscribers since November last year, after a rule change allowed subscribers to keep their phone numbers when changing service providers, speeding up price competition in a saturated mobile market.

DoCoMo, whose users total 54 percent of Japan's nearly 9 trillion yen ($78 billion) mobile market, now is gearing up to halve basic fees later this month, as is KDDI, partly in reaction to the challenge from Softbank.

Softbank, which bought Vodafone's (VOD.L) local unit in April last year, has undercut its bigger competitors, who control 80 percent of the market, with low-cost plans since January.

Shares of DoCoMo were down 1.7 percent by late afternoon while Softbank was down 2.7 percent and KDDI was flat.

((Reporting by Mayumi Negishi; Reuters Messaging: mayumi.negishi.reuters.com@reuters.net; +81-3-3432-8618; mayumi.negishi@reuters.com))

($1=115.25 Yen) Keywords: MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS/

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