Japan's Telecommunications Carriers Strengthen Disaster Response Through Collaborative Information Sharing

Tokyo, July 1, 2025 - Japan's eight telecommunications companies — Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, NTT East, NTT West, NTT DOCOMO and NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS (the NTT Group), KDDI Corporation, SoftBank Corp. and Rakuten Mobile — today announced the launch of a cooperative information-sharing system in July 2025 to further expedite disaster relief support to affected areas following large-scale disasters.

This system is part of the "Connect to Change" project^*1 and builds upon the cooperative framework launched on December 1, 2024^*2, which aims to ensure the rapid restoration of communication networks in the event of large-scale disasters.

1. Objective of the information-sharing system

In the event of a large-scale disaster, telecommunications carriers provide crucial support to affected areas, often deploying communication services for evacuation centers. Previously, these efforts were conducted independently, sometimes leading to redundant resources and regional disparities in services. This new system promotes a collaborative approach through information sharing, enabling carriers to coordinate their resources and ensure timely, equitable, and comprehensive support to those in need.

2. Details of the information-sharing system

(1) Start Date:

July 2025

(2) Details:

Evacuation Center Support

(3) Support Details:

3. Future plans

Moving forward, in addition to information sharing, the eight companies aim to strengthen cooperation further by dividing responsibilities for evacuation center support. By expanding and accelerating support to evacuation centers in disaster-stricken areas, the companies aim to contribute to the realization of a more sustainable society.

Notes

^*1https://tsunagu-kaeru.jp/ (*Japanese page)

^*2https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2024/1218_01/

^*Product names and service names published in this press release are generally trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Trademarks such as TM and ® may be omitted when trademarks are listed in this press release.

About NTT

NTT contributes to a sustainable society through the power of innovation. We are a leading global technology company providing services to consumers and businesses as a mobile operator, infrastructure, networks, applications, and consulting provider. Our offerings include digital business consulting, managed application services, workplace and cloud solutions, data center and edge computing, all supported by our deep global industry expertise. We are over $97B in revenue and 330,000 employees, with $3.6B in annual R&D investments. Our operations span across 80+ countries and regions, allowing us to serve clients in over 190 of them. We serve over 75% of Fortune Global 100 companies, thousands of other enterprise and government clients and millions of consumers.

About KDDI

KDDI is a telecommunication service provider in Japan, offering multitude of services to individual customers through its "au", "UQ mobile" and "povo" brands, and to corporate customers through its "KDDI BUSINESS" brand.
In May 2022, KDDI had stated "KDDI VISION 2030: The creation of a society in which anyone can make their dreams a reality, by enhancing the power to connect". Under this vision, KDDI is promoting its business strategy in the Mid-Term Management Strategy (FY2022-FY2025), defined as the "Satellite Growth Strategy". With a focus on 5G communications, data-driven practices, and generative AI, KDDI will accelerate business growth by providing value-added services in the growth areas of DX, finance, energy, and life transformation (LX) which encompasses five areas of future growth (Mobility, Sports/Entertainment, Web3/Metaverse, Healthcare, and Space).
Placing "sustainability management" at the core, KDDI will aim to achieve the sustainable growth of society and the enhancement of corporate value together with our partners, by harnessing the "Satellite Growth Strategy" and strengthening the management base.

About SoftBank Corp.

Guided by the SoftBank Group's corporate philosophy, "Information Revolution — Happiness for everyone," SoftBank Corp. (TOKYO: 9434) operates telecommunications and IT businesses in Japan and globally. Building on its strong business foundation, SoftBank Corp. is expanding into non-telecom fields in line with its "Beyond Carrier" growth strategy while further growing its telecom business by harnessing the power of 5G/6G, IoT, Digital Twin and Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) solutions, including High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS)-based stratospheric telecommunications. While constructing AI data centers and developing homegrown LLMs specialized for the Japanese language with 1 trillion parameters, SoftBank is integrating AI with radio access networks (AI-RAN) with the aim of becoming a provider of next-generation social infrastructure.

About Rakuten Mobile

Rakuten Mobile, Inc. is a Rakuten Group company responsible for mobile communications, centered on its mobile network operator (MNO) business. Through continuous innovation and the deployment of advanced technology, Rakuten Mobile aims to redefine expectations in the mobile communications industry in order to provide appealing and convenient services for diverse customer needs.