Softbank Falls on Concern Users Will Switch Carrier

April 5 (Bloomberg) -- Softbank Corp. fell the most in more than four months in Tokyo after the Nikkei newspaper said a government plan to make it easier for mobile phone users to switch networks will favor rival NTT DoCoMo Inc.

Softbank, Japan’s third-largest mobile phone operator, fell 3.9 percent to 2,248 yen as of 9:52 a.m. on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the biggest decline since Nov. 27. DoCoMo, the country’s largest carrier, rose 0.9 percent to 144,400 yen, compared with a 0.5 percent gain by the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average.

Japan’s government plans to draw up guidelines allowing phone users to switch providers without changing handsets by the summer, the Nikkei said, citing Masamitsu Naito, senior vice minister for communications. Subscribers may leave Softbank, the exclusive distributor of Apple Inc.’s iPhone in Japan, for DoCoMo, which is perceived to offer wider coverage and higher voice quality, the paper said.

“The share reaction is natural,” considering the relative weakness of Softbank’s network, said Hitoshi Hayakawa, a Tokyo- based analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG. Hayakawa has an “outperform” rating on Softbank shares and recommends holding DoCoMo stock.

Removing the restrictions would allow subscribers to change providers by inserting a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM phone card, a chip that holds user data, into a handset of a different carrier. Users currently must buy a new handset when changing providers, often agreeing to contracts lasting two years.