President's Message

First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all our stakeholders for your continued support.

Since its establishment, KDDI has made realizing a truly connected society part of the KDDI Group Mission Statement. Our business is strongly intertwined with society and directly connects to customers' lives. Under the slogan Zutto, Motto, Tsunagu Zo, au (Connecting more and always with au), we deliver a thrilling customer experience by always going further than expected.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has led to an ongoing rapid digital shift that is affecting every aspect of society, telecommunications have taken on an increasingly important role. The Japanese government has also launched the Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation to revitalize local communities through digital implementation, thereby helping accelerate the digitization of people's lives and businesses. KDDI is promoting measures to establish new lifestyles for consumers and to build a resilient future society that supports Japan's economic development and that provides solutions to social issues.

In order to achieve the future society we want to be while promptly responding to such changes in our business environment, KDDI has formulated the new "KDDI VISION 2030: The creation of a society in which anyone can make their dreams a reality, by enhancing the power to connect" and defined the new material issues that encompass social problems and our business's levels of importance comprehensively from a long-term perspective.

The Mid-term Business Strategy is built upon "sustainability management" that aims to achieve the sustainable growth of society and the enhancement of corporate value together with our partners. We will utilize the characteristics of 5G to evolve the power to connect and to "blend in" make telecommunications commonplace in every scene, thereby aiming for an era where new values are created along with our diverse partners. KDDI will strengthen the 5G-driven evolution of its telecommunications business, the expansion of focus areas centered around telecommunications, and the strengthening of its business infrastructure that supports these objectives.

Specifically, KDDI will promote five focus areas as the pillars of our Satellite Growth Strategy; (1) digital transformation (DX), (2) finance, (3) energy, (4) life transformation (LX), and (5) Regional Co-Creation (such as CATV). In particular, DX integrates communication into everything (cars, industrial equipment and various meters, etc.) in the form of IoT, and creates an environment where customers can utilize 5G without being aware of it. To that end, we will provide business platforms that meet the individual needs of various industries and support our customers' business creation. We are aiming for a virtuous cycle of DX, where people's lives are transformed by the newly created added value.

In addition, KDDI is addressing carbon neutrality, which is a major issue on a global scale and other sustainability issues through its operations. In February 2022, the KDDI Group was SBT certified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an international initiative for climate change. Furthermore, KDDI has expressed its agreement with the proposals made by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and will promote disclosure accordingly with heightened transparency. KDDI is aiming to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2030 and the Group as a whole by 2050. In order to achieve these targets, we will promote energy efficiency and shift to renewable energy for cell phone base stations and telecommunications equipment.

In addition, to ensure ongoing sustainable growth amid a business environment that is undergoing constant and profound change, employees and organizations must drive innovation and acquire a high degree of autonomy and growth to become a "human resources first company". In promoting innovation, we will strengthen R&D and capital investment for 5G and beyond 5G. And we will accelerate efforts for business creation, R&D, AI and advanced security technology efforts based on our Satellite Growth Strategy and will deepen partnerships such as collaboration with startups. In order to transform into a company that puts human resources first and considers their development and enhancement to be the foundation of management, we are working on this across three pillars; introducing the KDDI Version Job Style Personnel System, realizing Declaration of KDDI New Work Styles, and promoting Internal DX. By utilizing "KDDI DX University" to advance DX skills of all employees and develop professional human resources, we will also shift personnel to focus areas.

Lastly, we will permeate the "KDDI Philosophy" as a common way of thinking and code of conduct for management and employees. Through the synergistic effect of the corporate governance system that respects human rights and guarantees transparency and fairness, we will strengthen the risk management and information security system and strive to promote the KDDI group management.

As we move forward together, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for your continued support and guidance for the KDDI Group.

May 2022
Makoto Takahashi
President, KDDI CORPORATION