(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Softbank, an Internet services company and mobile phone carrier, said its net profit fell 66% in the most recent quarter due to hefty sales promotion costs.
Net income totaled 7.494 billion yen ($61.93 million) in the October-December period, down sharply from 22 billion yen ($181 million) in the same period a year before.
Softbank, which acquired Vodafone Group's Japan unit last April, said sales more than doubled to 702.19 billion yen ($5.80 billion) from 287.47 billion yen ($2.36 billion) a year before.
Despite the jump in sales, higher costs for promoting its broadband Internet services and mobile phones eroded earnings, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son told reporters.
'A variety of sales campaign costs are affecting our earnings,' Son said.
During the latest period, Softbank spent 227.30 billion yen ($1.88 billion) in marketing expenses and other general administrative costs, up from 79.40 billion yen ($651 million) disbursed the same period a year earlier.
Softbank Mobile, currently the No. 3 carrier in Japan by subscribers after NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, is pitching to increase its subscribers since the start of number portability in Japan in October.
During the quarter, Softbank Mobile added 189,000 subscribers to bring its total to 15.49 million by year-end, the company said.
Softbank ran into some trouble late last year over its advertising campaign during the October introduction of mobile number portability, which allows users to switch carriers but keep their phone numbers.
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