Message from NTT Com President and CEO Akira Arima

Akira Arima President and CEO of NTT Communications Corp.

It is true that the future of the Japanese economy remains unclear due to the impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake, high value of the yen, European financial crisis and flooding in Thailand. Nevertheless, many businesses are gradually increasing revenues by strategically focusing on emerging high-growth markets in Asia and by cutting costs through better efficiency and higher productivity, so there are some positive signs as well.

In the information and communications industry, the boundary separating computers and mobile devices continue to be blurred by the rising popularity of smartphones and tablet devices. In addition, increased broadband availability and diversified access methods are creating environments that offer truly seamless access, regardless of location or device. The ability to use cloud services anywhere and anytime via mobile devices is attracting attention because of its potential to change ways of living and working, as well as strengthen business continuity planning and cost reduction.

Under our new growth strategy, Vision 2015, the NTT Communications Group aims to become a true leader that customers worldwide seek out as their Global ICT Partner. Along with continued expansion of our network and data center infrastructure in the growing Asian market, we will partner with other NTT Group companies and local carriers in Europe, the U.S. and other markets to broaden our geographical coverage and service reach. Furthermore, in line with the Global Cloud Vision we introduced last October, we will further expand our seamless and comprehensive global ICT services via our BizCITY, Arcstar Universal One and Arcstar Unified Communications Services. For consumers, meanwhile, we will offer increasingly convenient applications and rich content though our Hikari-TV and 050 plus services, providing people with new ways to enjoy their lives more fully.

Although we suffered damage to a number of facilities in the earthquake last March, we worked extremely quickly to restore services and fulfill our duty as a provider of essential communication services. The lessons we learned from this experience have helped us to recognize once again the great social importance of communications. We are more committed than ever before to enhancing the resilience, safety and reliability of our communications infrastructure in the face of potential disasters, along with providing innovative and reliable services that truly meet the expectations of our customers.