Vodafone Japan To Change Name To Softbank Mobile Oct 1

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Softbank said Thursday its recently acquired mobile phone unit will change its name to Softbank Mobile from Vodafone Japan K.K. as of Oct. 1.

The firm, which acquired the Japanese unit of UK mobile phone giant Vodafone Group, hopes to catch up to rivals NTT DoCoMo and KDDI Corp.

Softbank also said that it and UK-based Vodafone have agreed to set up a joint venture to develop mobile phone handsets, a new service platform and mobile phone contents. The 50-50 joint venture, which will be capitalized at up to Y11 billion, will offer these services in Japan.

With 15.2 million subscribers as of the end of March, Vodafone lags far behind NTT DoCoMo and KDDI's cell phone services in Japan.

-By Natsuo Nishio, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-5255-2929;natsuo.nishio@dowjones.com
-Edited by Shawn Schroter

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 18th May 2006