TOKYO — Softbank Corp said Saturday it is in talks with Vodafone Group PLC of Britain about buying the world's biggest mobile phone carrier's Japanese subsidiary by acquiring its controlling stake in Vodafone KK. The deal, if struck, would make Softbank Japan's third-largest full-service carrier that supplies both fixed-line and mobile phone services after the NTT group and KDDI Corp.
Vodafone KK is Japan's third-biggest mobile phone carrier after NTT DoCoMo Inc and KDDI, with its subscribers standing at approximately 15 million. The acquisition of Vodafone KK is expected to cost the Japanese Internet and financial services firm more than 1 trillion yen, because Vodafone spent more than that amount on acquiring the Japanese unit, making the deal one of the largest ever corporate acquisition case in Japan, industry sources say.