Happy New Year, everyone.

2020 was a year of great social change due to COVID-19. For us at SoftBank Corp. as well, it was a year where our business environment changed dramatically.

Despite the challenges of 2020, we steadily continued our business and grew by adapting to change. We began our drive to digitize our work processes and reform our workstyles more than 10 years ago, and thanks to these efforts, we smoothly transitioned to remote working and kept our businesses moving forward with about 70% of our employees working from home. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 at our stores and other sales venues, we devised various changes, such as holding smartphone lessons online for our customers. With restrictions on in-person client meetings, our enterprise sales teams comprehensively moved to online sales activities. In the process, they increased their enterprise customer contacts fivefold. These initiatives demonstrate how we have been able to capitalize on the benefits of our digital shift by fully harnessing our strengths as a telecom carrier. We are starting 2021 at our new headquarters in Takeshiba, and from this smart building that utilizes advanced technologies, we will establish new workstyles that correspond to the new normal.

The digital shift is proceeding at a rapid pace across all industries, and 5G is a key driver to its promotion. In the next five years we will deploy approximately 200,000 base stations to rapidly expand our 5G area coverage, and we aim to build the No.1 5G network in Japan. Furthermore, over the next 10 years we will invest 2.2 trillion JPY to build next-generation networks, including 6G, with a view to realizing a world where all things are connected.

With the business integration of our subsidiary Z Holdings and LINE expected to take place in March, 2021 will be the year in which our corporate group makes great strides forward. In our telecom business, we will launch a new online-only brand called 'SoftBank on LINE.' We will meet the diverse needs of our customers with three mobile communications brands: 'SoftBank' for high-volume data users, 'Y!mobile' for small- to medium-volume data users and the new online-only brand. After the Z Holdings and LINE business integration completes, as the largest shareholder of the new Z Holdings, we will work to bring together the strengths of our corporate group more than ever before. To further deliver on our 'Beyond Carrier' strategy, we will challenge ourselves in different business domains while leveraging our strengths as a telecom carrier.

The telecom networks and Internet services that we provide are becoming even more critical social infrastructure, and we have been conscious of our important role and how our businesses contribute to society. In 2020, to promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we established an SDGs Promotion Committee and identified six priority issues under the concept of 'a world where all things, information and minds are connected.' To solve the priority issues by utilizing 5G, IoT, AI and our other technologies, we must achieve growth over the long term. In 2021 we will further promote our initiatives to achieve the SDGs and strive to grow in a sustainable manner.

Building on the foundation of our telecom business and utilizing our advanced technologies, we will work on solving issues facing industries and social problems to realize our corporate philosophy, 'Information Revolution - Happiness for everyone,' and thereby contribute to society.

Your continued support and understanding of SoftBank Corp. is greatly appreciated.

(C) 2021 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire