CEO New Year's Message

I want to make 2023 the year of a V-shaped recovery. That means achieving an increase in consolidated operating income in FY2023 (the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024) over FY2022 when excluding the one-time remeasurement gain we made through consolidating PayPay Corporation. While SoftBank has been greatly impacted by mobile service price reductions, the degree to which we stay on the offensive will be key in 2023. United with our group companies, we will work to bring about a V-shaped recovery in this critical year.

There was much to celebrate last year despite a challenging business environment: our smartphone subscriber net additions saw a recovery trend, 5G network population coverage surpassed 90%, SRv6 MUP—a technology that uses multi-access edge computing (MEC) and network slicing to reduce mobile network costs—was successfully developed, “PayPay” registered users passed the 50 million mark, SB Payment Service, SB C&S and PayPay jointly deployed a multi-payment terminal, we started a new business with ASKUL called “Biz-Raku” to support the digital transformation (DX) of small- and medium-sized enterprises, and Healthcare Technologies launched a service for consumers with their “HELPO” app that offers online health and medical consultations. Furthermore, we embarked on new challenges to implement digitalization into society, including the launch of an AI-powered demand forecasting service called “Sakimiru” that utilizes population flow and weather data for the retail and food industries, opened a SoftBank store on the “ZEPETO” metaverse platform, and launched the “Digital Twin Campus Lab” with the Keio Research Institute at SFC to research next-generation information infrastructure, among other initiatives. Through these multifaceted endeavors, we are driving group synergies and continuing to take steps toward realizing the implementation of digitalization into society.

With the consolidation of PayPay, we added a new Financial Business segment, which I believe will be a major turning point for SoftBank. For a company like ours that is aiming to realize the implementation of digitalization into society, I'm convinced the Financial Business will become a major force for our company. By aligning the vectors of PayPay, SB Payment Service, PayPay Securities and our other group companies offering financial services, we will grow this segment into a new business pillar that follows after our telecommunications and the Internet business.

With the long-term effects of the situation in Ukraine and COVID-19, the global landscape and business environment is experiencing major fluctuations, making it more difficult to make future predictions. Witnessing these changes, I'm aware once again of our important responsibility to maintain and operate telecommunications infrastructure in a sustainable manner in all types of environments. The increase in electricity charges is significant for a telecommunications provider like us that uses large amounts of energy. I also recognize again the importance of managing risks across our entire supply chain. That said, in all facets of society there is an acceleration toward digitalization and DX. There are increasing needs to make daily life more convenient through the use of smartphones, to grow businesses and build business models through data utilization, and to mitigate the risks of natural disasters and prevent accidents. SoftBank will continue to deploy businesses while researching and developing related technologies to address these societal needs.

As in life, business results go through ups and downs. It is important to continue to plant seeds and always seek new opportunities, whether times are tough or favorable. In 2023, we will continue to read the times accordingly, and with a correct understanding of the era, plant seeds with the belief that they will someday sprout in the future. From the standpoint of always leading the era, we will challenge ourselves to implement digitalization into society, and be the company that is most needed by the world.