Implementing digital
technology to solve social
issues
Technology development
underpinning value creation
SoftBank has evolved by incorporating manifold corporate cultures and integrating accumulated technologies with diverse human resources.
In the future, we will create new value by analyzing and combining in various platforms data accumulated through communications infrastructure, with the goal of becoming a comprehensive digital platformer enriching people’s lives. To achieve this, we will build robust communications infrastructure centered on 5G, and strive to further enhance this through the development of AI, the IoT, robotics, and digital twins active in such infrastructure, as well as advanced technologies like 6G and HAPS.
Never satisfied with staying in the same place, we constantly endeavor to develop new technologies to evolve still further, to contribute to achieving solutions and providing new value.
Executive Vice President & CTO
Hideyuki Tsukuda
The aims for SoftBank’s
technology strategy
To further advance our Beyond Carrier strategy, we intend to optimize society overall through the power of cutting-edge technologies, providing services that enrich people’s lives with greater convenience, while also working to find solutions to social issues.
Early deployment of 5G and enhanced security of communications
For the 5G services we began providing in 2020, our aim is the early nationwide deployment of network infrastructure with not only consumer services, but also to support industrial digitalization for both the public and private sectors.
As 5G gains acceptance, communications will be almost virtually real time, while networks gain in sophistication through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like AI. By implementing services using IoT and other devices being rolled out in such networks, we will accelerate the digital shift for industry.
At the same time, we are also working to enhance the security of communications, taking steps to eliminate major incidents and accidents resulting in injury or death and emphasizing internal fraud countermeasures and data management governance to ensure full security, striving to build network infrastructure that meets the expectations of each industry.
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Creating new value by combining evolving underlying technologies
We generate innovative new services by developing and implementing next-generation communications technologies and underlying technologies such as AI, to realize new value creation.
For example, by aligning AI-based data analysis and sensing technology, we can realize an accident-free automated driving society with comfort, safety, and security using data from vehicles and pedestrians, and optimize purchasing experiences via purchasing behavior data.
Integrating the data acquired from every type of business and industry into a single platform, we will run a variety of simulations with digital twins to optimize society overall, then implement them in real life to attain a highly efficient society.
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Next-generation technology development looking
toward the future
Realizing communications that are connected everywhere in the world will eliminate information gaps and inequalities in education depending on where a person is born, and provide communications that are uninterrupted even by natural disasters.
We have established global area coverage to provide communications services from the sky through two solutions: OneWeb, which provides a high-speed, high-volume satellite communications network using LEO (low earth orbit) satellites; and HAPS, which provides communications networks from the stratosphere. Combining these with terrestrial base stations allows high-quality communications to reach even isolated areas inaccessible by radio waves, achieving a future with no communications gaps for any people, things, or industries.
MaaS and self-driving technology contribute to solving difficulties for people with mobility problems and help bring vitality to regional economies, while at the same time promoting the commercialization of AI technology to reinvest returns gained into further research activities and human resources development, to build a cyclical ecosystem.
By developing and utilizing cutting-edge technologies, we aim to become a comprehensive digital platformer not only for communications that connect everything, but also as a platform for creating and providing new businesses and services to society.
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Technology
development
areas
Communications
technology
Communications have served as a way to connect people, but with the adoption of 5G they have evolved into industrial networks connecting things as well, becoming a quintessential tool connecting everything that exists in society.
By providing innovative products and services utilizing the features of 5G, and working on developing Beyond 5G/6G technology, we are seeking to build networks that are resistant to natural disasters and improve safety and reliability.
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5G
With the launch of 5G in March 2020 as a technology to greatly evolve industries and services, we are engaging in a variety of activities, surveys and research.
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NTN
By Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) we can allow use of networks in areas previously outside the service range, having a great impact not only on ordinary users, but also on the industrial world seeking to accelerate digital transformation (DX).
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Beyond 5G/6G
As we look toward Beyond 5G/6G, which is expected to improve the communications performance of 5G by ten times or more, we are engaged with diversified research and development, focusing on expanding a better communications business.
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Communications platform technology
We are also actively engaged in the research and development of various fundamental technologies that support the evolution of communications, and in promoting the international standardization of research results with the aim of making contributions both domestically and internationally.
New technologies and
businesses
As a reliable carrier that has deep-seated connections with many industries through expert communications technologies, we must maximize the usage value of the big data gained from these. Matching supply and demand for the future of communications where everything is connected, we will provide platforms to launch innovative services using cutting-edge technologies like the IoT, AI, and mobility.
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IoT
Together with progressive research into security technologies to counter cyber attacks, we are gathering new data for analysis with the IoT, to serve in solving social issues and creating value.
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AI
Our aim is to not only provide AI solutions to support our business and shared platforms for these, but also to contribute to companies and society by realizing better AI.
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Mobility
We are working on several verification tests and commercialization efforts to develop mobility platforms and provide services to expand a mobility society.
