Japanese mobile operator Softbank ranked first by subscriber additions for the fourth straight month in November, with incumbent NTT DoCoMo remaining in last place.
Softbank added 87,500 new subscribers in November, bringing its total to 21.5 million, carrier group TCA said. By comparison, DoCoMo added just 55,600, but now has 55.3 million subs. Rival KDDI had 69,200 additions - narrowly losing out to Emobile, which added 70,500.
DoCoMo slipped to last place by subscribers in September, and has not yet recovered.
The country's total number of traditional mobile subscribers increased by 282,000 - or 0.3% - to 110.2 million.
Japan's sole PHS operator, Willcom, lost 38,400 subscribers across its various units to bring its total to just 4.3 million.