I believe that Corporate Social Responsibility is about taking the steps needed to ensure a sustainable society. We have a basic obligation to meet our legal and contractual obligations. We must also act based on our responsibility for building strong trust among customers, employees, and other stakeholders. And we must work even harder to keep moving forward. We want to play even a small part in contributing to a sustainable society by pursuing improvements in terms of environmental, labor, and biodiversity issues.

The NTT Communications Group established its CSR structure in August 2005. We formulated our basic CSR policy in 2006 and stepped up training for CSR officials and all employees. We established Vision 2010 to cover the operations of all Group companies. It includes our mission, which is to become a highly trusted company that contributes to a flourishing society and safe and comfortable lifestyles as a partner that bridges today and tomorrow. Bringing people together is our prime function as a telecommunications company. Our main Group CSR priority through our core businesses is to provide reliable and safe services.

In December 2006, many customers were inconvenienced when an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan damaged several submarine cables. Although this disaster was unexpected and large, we swiftly restored services by drawing on strong capabilities in the field based on our mission. Many customers praised our efforts despite the inconvenience that they suffered.

Field capabilities are central to building trust with all stakeholders. Masae Tamura, a senior executive vice president and concurrently the chairman of our CSR Committee, held a round-table meeting at which employees who directly serve customers exchanged their candid opinions. We are determined to harness what this gathering revealed so we can improve our stakeholder communications.

In today’s advanced broadband and ubiquitous society, our reliance on the Internet is making the safety and security of telecommunications networks even more important. We have an increasingly important role to play in that regard. At the same time, stakeholders expect far more from us. We will keep these factors in mind as we pursue CSR initiatives that bridge today and tomorrow by providing safe and secure networks.

We are keen to make even the smallest enhancements to our CSR program. So, I would greatly appreciate opinions on this report to we can continue to do better.