Softbank Corp. announced Thursday that its operating profit for the April-December period rose sevenfold to 197 billion yen from a year earlier following a cut in basic monthly fees and the introduction of more attractive handsets to lure subscribers from rivals in the hotly contested wireless market.

"Softbank is steadily increasing its net subscribers," CEO Masayoshi Son said repeatedly during a news conference in Tokyo. The mobile phone business "is very going well despite the risks that our subscribers may defect to other providers."

Softbank entered the mobile phone business last April when it acquired Vodafone Group's struggling operations.

It saw strong earnings after Japan's top carrier, NTT DoCoMo Inc., reported in January its worst net subscription increase. No. 2 carrier, KDDI Corp., has meanwhile had strong growth in its subscriber base since the government introduced the mobile phone number portability service last October.

Softbank's mobile phone service accounted for 55.6 percent of its total revenues for the Tokyo-based Internet and telecommunications firm in the nine-month period.

The company said its operating profit in its mobile business reached 113.5 billion yen for the period.

Softbank's surprising price cuts as well as new models and ad campaign featuring high-profile Hollywood stars have lured new subscribers this year. But the company also was struck by several computer glitches that prevented sign-ups. The Fair Trade Commission also forced the carrier last year to change the content of its ads because they were misleading.

Son said its new price plan had 10.5 million subscribers in the three weeks since it began in mid-January.

Group revenue more than doubled to 1.82 trillion yen from the same period a year ago, while net profit rose 23 percent to 21.9 billion yen.

The company did not provide its group earnings forecast to March 31.

The smallest of Japan's three mobile carriers, Softbank has a 16 percent market share of the nation's 95 million mobile subscribers, lagging far behind NTT DoCoMo's 55 percent share and KDDI Corp's 29 percent. KDDI is the operator of the au brand.

Analysts said they were more optimistic about Softbank's prospects as the company has gradually added subscribers with price cuts and other offers.

"As the company's monthly subscriber data show, this trend (Softbank's popularity) continues," said Hitoshi Hayakawa, an analyst at Credit Suisse in Tokyo before Softbank's third-quarter results were announced. "There is also a possibility that rivals will cut prices after Softbank's new price plan takes effect in March."

KDDI Corp. had launched discount plans and music distribution services ahead of the number portability service, and has since been the biggest beneficiary of the new system. Late last month, KDDI said its net profit for the nine months ending Dec. 31 rose 20.9 percent to 191 billion yen since its subscriber base expanded.

It also increased its revenue forecast to 3.33 trillion yen, up from 3.29 trillion yen, in anticipation of an increase in new customers.

Meanwhile, NTT DoCoMo failed to take as much advantage of the system as it had expected. It announced last month that its net profit dropped 21.8 percent from the previous year to 403.7 billion yen as the company's costs increased due to extra expenses to get its subscribers to change to its third-generation service.

The company reported its worst January subscriber figures following a net loss last November.

"The customers who left for au cited cheaper prices as the main reason," DoCoMo CEO Masao Nakamura told a news conference last month.

"As for the forecast for this year ending in March, it totally depends on the spring sales season. But it looks tough at the moment," he added, citing an increase in the cost of incentives offered to retailers even though spring sales prospects remain unclear.