Main Q&A at Earnings Results Briefing for Q3 FY2025 | About Us

Date	Monday, February 9, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:19 pm
Speakers	SoftBank Corp.: Junichi Miyakawa (President & CEO) Kazuhiko Fujihara (Board Director, Executive Vice President & CFO)

How do you view the current competitive environment in the mobile business?: We recognize that there has been no major change in the competitive environment. SoftBank Corp. revised its acquisition policy, such as by limiting the investment of acquisition costs in the customer segment with a high possibility of short-term cancellation (hopping users). While the number of net additions will decrease in the short term as a result, the Company expects this to lead to an improvement in the churn rate in the future.

Please tell us about the possibility of future price increases in mobile services.: Considering the external environment, such as rising personnel costs and outsourcing expenses, we believe that we will have to implement a price increase at some point. We intend to proceed with various considerations going forward.

What level are you aiming for in terms of mobile net additions in the future?: We have aligned with our sales executives' firm stance of not fixating on net additions.. For the next fiscal year, we are prepared to accept net additions being zero in order to fully address underlying issues. As a result, we expect the improvement in our churn rate to gradually become visible once the new fiscal year begins. Although our churn rate remains higher than competitors, we intend to fully implement improvement measures while our revenue base remains solid.

ARPU is on an improving trend. What is the future outlook?: The migration from Y!mobile brand to SoftBank brand is functioning well, and the balance of brand conversion for SoftBank brand remains positive. Furthermore, the penetration of the "Pay-toku" plan is also contributing to the increase in ARPU. In addition, a decrease in "hopping users" with low ARPU is expected to contribute positively to ARPU, and we anticipate this effect will continue into the next fiscal year.

What was the background behind the revision of contract administrative fees? (The Company has revised the administrative fees for certain online procedures, involving SIM re-issuance and model changes without handset purchases. While eSIM procedures are now free of charge, the fee for USIM has been set at ¥1,100, taking into account the costs associated with card issuance and shipping.): This decision reflects the presence or absence of actual costs—such as card issuance and shipping—while also taking customer needs into consideration.

What is the objective of the alliance with Sony Network Communications Inc. in optical fiber services? Also, will this lead to improved investment efficiency for the entire network, including mobile base stations?: Similar to the initiatives with KDDI Corporation (hereinafter, "KDDI") being pursued through 5G JAPAN Corporation, the objective is to significantly improve investment efficiency by sharing equipment. From the perspective of service provision, the two companies will continue to be in a competitive relationship as before. Optical fiber lines are critical infrastructure that supports the increase in traffic due to the spread of AI. Based on the concept that 5G and optical fiber lines work together as two pillars of communication infrastructure, SoftBank Corp. will continue to actively invest in optical fiber lines. We believe that improving the efficiency of optical fiber equipment utilization will also contribute to the capital expenditure efficiency of lines for mobile base stations.

What are your thoughts on Rakuten Mobile, Inc. (hereinafter, "Rakuten Mobile") surpassing 10 million contracts?: We would like to express our respect for this as a result of the persistent efforts led by the founder. On the other hand, considering that the significance of having a fourth carrier includes expectations for the further strengthening of Japan's mobile network, it is disappointing to see Rakuten Mobile continuing to rely on roaming from KDDI.

NTT DOCOMO, INC. (hereinafter, "NTT DOCOMO") announced that it will start satellite communication services from the beginning of the next fiscal year. When will SoftBank Corp. provide this? Also, will satellite communication services become a point of differentiation between carriers?: We also plan to provide satellite communication services from the next fiscal year. We believe it may be difficult to differentiate based on satellite communication services alone. As a personal view, while it would be ideal to have Japan-made services, they have not caught up at this stage. We intend to continue various initiatives from a medium- to long-term perspective.

NTT DOCOMO is accelerating the development of base stations. What is your approach toward strengthening network quality for the next fiscal year?: We aim to accelerate the deployment of 5G SA (5G Standalone) and enhance network quality. Going forward, we believe that the cumulative operational decisions made by each company—such as base station parameter adjustments and frequency utilization methods—will determine quality differences. We intend to respond accordingly to stay competitive.

NTT DOCOMO will terminate its 3G services at the end of March 2026. SoftBank Corp. is actively offering discounts on handsets to this specific user base. Although a shift in acquisition policy was previously mentioned, could you clarify your current thinking on this strategy once again?: We consider it a reasonable strategy to actively acquire users of NTT DOCOMO's 3G lines, as they are not "hopping users."

Do you think the domestic telecommunications industry is in a mature phase, or do you think it is still in a growth phase?: We do not see this as an industry that has finished maturing; rather, we believe there are still many things left to be done. For example, we want to pursue the collaboration of communications and AI, such as services enabled by 5G SA and the deployment of local 5G. Previously, we were in a position to nurture PayPay Corporation, but it has begun to contribute to the growth of our communications business, creating synergies. We intend to consider collaboration with various industries.

There is a discussion that the handset discount system should be linked to price plans, allowing those who pay higher charges to receive higher discounts. How do you view this?: We are not in a position to oppose such discussions. Based on our past expertise, we would like to examine whether there are deficiencies in the system or operations and provide our opinions. Long-term discounts are also one approach.

What is your take on the ruling party's landslide victory in the House of Representatives election held on February 8, 2026?: We recognize the election results as a reflection of the high popularity of the Takaichi administration. We sympathize with economic policies aimed at a strong Japan. While the Takaichi administration has announced 17 fields as priority investment targets, we view information and communications as the "top priority" and intend to work diligently on it. SoftBank Corp. also wants to take the lead in contributing to the AI field. Since the Company conducts business within Japan, we believe that national development and expanding the wealth of the citizens is the necessary strategy to realize our sustainable growth.

How do you view SoftBank Corp.'s involvement in the development of homegrown AI infrastructure models that the government is trying to promote?: We have repeatedly mentioned the necessity of creating homegrown AI infrastructure models for some time, and we strongly agree with the policy. Since current homegrown AI infrastructure models lack competitiveness compared to overseas models, it is necessary to regain ground. There is a vast amount of important data in Japan that does not appear on the web, so an environment where this can be utilized is critical to creating competitive homegrown AI infrastructure models. We intend to proceed actively if there is an opportunity to collaborate with the government.

Please provide your outlook on the timing of the shift in AI computing infrastructure usage from "training" to "inference.": Overseas, the focus of AI usage has already shifted toward inference. While there were few companies in Japan that could complete large-scale AI training, we gained expertise through the development of LLMs with a scale of 460 billion parameters. Going forward, we believe the era of "inference," where companies utilize their own AI, will arrive. As the era of "physical AI" is just around the corner, we intend to accelerate our capital investment efforts.

Please clarify the investment plan and progress for AI data centers.: Since we intend to provide a detailed explanation within the next Medium-term Management Plan, we would like to refrain from commenting at this time.

What is the status of the listing examination for PayPay Corporation?: Preparations for the listing are proceeding smoothly, but we will refrain from commenting on the details.

Profits in the financial segment have doubled. What are the future goals?: Since PayPay Corporation has begun preparations for listing, we will refrain from commenting on the future outlook to avoid communications that could be viewed as gun jumping. We intend to work on improving corporate value across the entire Group, including collaboration with online stores.

The Company announced a change in the management structure effective April 2026, though some might say the transition took considerable time. What prompted the timing of this change?: It is because we determined that the time has come to prepare for the succession to the next generation of the management team. Until now, members who launched the broadband service "Yahoo! BB" many years ago have led the management. We had considered a change in the management structure at a slightly earlier timing, but due to changes in the business environment such as mobile service price reductions in the spring of 2021, we decided to proceed with the current management structure, which possesses the necessary expertise for the time being. Since then, a structure capable of maintaining increases in revenue and profit has been established, leading to the decision to pass the management to younger members.

What is your thinking regarding ensuring group governance?: It is difficult for any company to reduce risk to zero. On that premise, we have established internal control systems, and I, as President & CEO, have reaffirmed my commitment to management and supervision. The Company will scrutinize whether the mechanisms and checks are functioning rigorously to ensure thorough group governance.

What is the future outlook for the cloud business?: We aim to launch the service during the next fiscal year. Currently, most Japanese companies use overseas cloud services. As the center of cloud services shifts from CPU-based to GPU-based, we have been building software for two years with the aim of becoming one of the choices. We want to demonstrate our presence as a Japanese cloud provider.

What is your thinking on the competitive advantage of the cloud business?: We do not envision the same business model as hyperscalers; we plan to deploy it in a distinctive form. By leveraging our strengths as a telecommunications carrier, we are undertaking unique initiatives such as "AI-RAN," which turns base stations into small data centers, and we want to utilize these characteristics.

How will SoftBank Corp.'s cloud business strategy and SB OAI Japan GK, the joint venture with U.S.-based OpenAI, work together?: Each initiative has a different positioning. Softbank Corp. is developing the sovereign cloud and sovereign AI data centers to protect Japan's important information, and we are working on them based on the belief that they are essential within Japanese government's medium- to long-term strategy. OpenAI, a global company, is working toward a worldview of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence), which represents a different positioning.

The Company upwardly revised the earnings forecast. I believe there was a previous comment about strengthening shareholder returns if there was leeway in performance. If there had been no impact from the system outage caused by ransomware attack at ASKUL, would there have been a possibility of strengthening shareholder returns?: At the time of the second quarter, we expected revenue to exceed ¥7 trillion and thought that net income would likely overperform slightly more. Therefore, as we had begun discussing methods for shareholder returns internally, it is reasonable to say that it would have been a possibility.

SoftBank Group Corp. announced the acquisition of U.S.-based DigitalBridge. The company owns data centers and mobile base stations; how do you view the impact on SoftBank Corp.'s business?: As this is a matter involving the parent company and is currently prior to approval by regulatory authorities, we will refrain from commenting at this time. After the closing, we intend to discuss the possibility of future collaboration.