Softbank Corp. said Monday its net loss widened in fiscal 2003 for the third consecutive year in the red due to heavy spending to attract subscribers to its high-speed Internet connection service.

The net loss was 107.1 billion yen, compared with 99.99 billion yen a year earlier.

Revenue grew 27 percent to 517.39 billion yen, with subscribers to its asymmetrical digital subscriber lines expanding to 4 million people as of the end of March, compared with 2.36 million the previous year.

Softbank chief executive Masayoshi Son, who pins the firm's future on its Yahoo! BB ADSL service, has set a target of 6 million users by the end of September 2005.

He has said the firm is ready to rack up more losses as it continues to spend heavily on promotional activities to attract new subscribers.

During the day's news conference, he said he is confident that Softbank is nearing a return to profitability, but declined to elaborate on timing. He pledged to log a profit on a monthly basis during the latter half of the current fiscal year.

Asked about a leak of subscribers' personal data that came to light in February, Son said its negative impact was very limited.

The company said its monthly cancellation rate remained within the regular seasonal range in both March and April. The number of subscribers grew by 73,000 each in March and April. Softbank had been enjoying monthly increases of between 120,000 and 150,000 in preceding months.

Softbank attributed the slowdown to a temporary halt to its aggressive street campaigns following the leak, in which the personal information of 4.5 million Yahoo! BB users was leaked to alleged extortionists.

Son said the incident partly prompted Softbank's increased number of new hires, totaling 4,500 full-time staff who will replace part-time and contract workers.