Update: Softbank turns away customers

Last week we reported on the massive churn taking place in Japan [1] following that country's implementation of wireless number portability, or the ability of a subscriber to switch carriers while keeping their same phone number. Now, reports coming out of Japan say Softbank had to turn away customers over the weekend because it could not process all the new applicants. The carrier has been struggling [2] to keep up with rivals DoCoMo and KDDI, so it slashed its prices last week. The carrier stopped taking new customers Sunday afternoon because its computer system could not handle the load. Softbank bought Vodafone's Japanese unit earlier this year.

For more on Softbank's popularity:
- see this article [3] from the IHT