Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- KDDI Corp., Japan's second-biggest mobile-phone operator, drew customers away from bigger rival NTT DoCoMo Inc. and Softbank Corp. in October, the first month in which users could switch carriers without changing their number.

KDDI added a net 200,500 subscribers, the most since April, as the Tokyo-based company benefited from mobile number portability, which took effect Oct. 24. DoCoMo added a net 40,800 users in the month, compared with 23,800 for Softbank.

The subscriber figures were ``more positive than I expected, much more positive,'' for KDDI, said Evan Erlanson, a Hong Kong- based analyst at Bear Stearns Asia Ltd. ``This is obviously an indication of the strength of the franchise.'' He rates the shares ``outperform.''

KDDI is offering handsets that play music, link to users' personal computers and enable electronic payments to expand its 28 percent share of Japan's $75 billion mobile phone market. The flow of subscribers to KDDI may have been slowed last month after a computer glitch at Softbank Corp., the third-biggest wireless operator, forced the suspension of applications.

KDDI added a net 352,600 users to its faster ``au'' network, and lost 152,100 from its less advanced ``Tu-ka Cellular'' service, the company said in a faxed release today.

Softbank Adds Users

Softbank halted applications Oct. 28 and 29, the first weekend of mobile number portability. It suspended them again this month, after saying it told the nation's telecommunications ministry it was fixing the problem.

Japanese Billionaire Masayoshi Son's Softbank today said it added a net 278,000 users to its third-generation network, while losing 255,000 on its slower 2G service.

The company today also said it lost a net 23,900 users between the Oct. 24 start of number portability and the end of the month and dropped a net 7,100 Nov. 1 through Nov. 7.

DoCoMo today said its high-speed FOMA service added 811,700 users, while the company's 2G Mova network dropped by a net 770,800 subscribers.

KDDI on Nov. 2 said it added a net 80,000 users in the first five days of number portability, while NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's biggest mobile operator, said it lost a net 60,000. Softbank declined to disclose subscriber figures for the period.

DoCoMo had 55 percent of Japan's cell phone market as of October, while Softbank, which bought Vodafone Group Plc's Japanese unit in April, controlled 16 percent. DoCoMo is scheduled to report October subscriber numbers at 3 p.m. today.

To contact the reporter for this story: Dave McCombs in Tokyo at dmccombs@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 8, 2006 01:50 EST