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Thank you very much for participating despite your busy schedules today. From now, we would like to start the briefing on NTT fiscal year 2022 third quarter financial results. My name is Hanaki from the IR office. I will be the facilitator today. First of all, I would like to introduce today's attending members. Representative member of the board, Senior Executive VP Hiroi, Executive Officer, Head of Finance and Accounting Nakayama, Executive Officer, Head of Corporate Strategy and Planning, Taniyama. Today's briefing audio is streamed live. We are planning to stream this on our website at a later date, so we seek your understanding beforehand. As for today's materials, please refer to presentation materials on our IR website. On the first page, points to be noted are listed, so we kindly ask you to go through them. Without further ado, Senior Executive Vice President Hiroi will explain the outline of the financial results, followed by taking questions from the floor. Mr. Hiroi, please go ahead.

Thank you very much. This is Hiroi speaking. I would like to share with you the financial results for the nine-month end of December 31, 2022. So, please turn to page four of your slide presentation material. This shows you the status of the consolidated results. Operating revenue increased year-on-year, operating income decreased, and profit increased year-on-year. So this is the same trend following from the second quarter. As for operating revenue and profit, this reached new record high level as the third quarter result. Operating revenue increased by 649.4 billion yen year-on-year up to 572.6 billion yen due to increasing revenue in the global solution business segment. Now, of this increase, impact from foreign exchange of currency was roughly 220 billion yen. While increase in operating revenue boosted our operating income, they could not cover the increase in electricity costs, especially in the regional communication sector, so operating income declined. The decline was 18.8 billion yen year on year, And the number was 1,520.8 billion yen. Now toward the meeting the annual target, we're already promoting various measures to reduce costs, to cover the increase in electricity costs, which is the main factor. So through these measures, we intend to achieve the annual plan. Turning now to bottom line, the profit. This went up 2.2 billion yen year on year. As we have been explaining since the first quarter, there was decline in the non-recurring factors such as corporate tax burden, so therefore profit went up 2.2 billion yen year-on-year and reached 1,032.5 billion yen. As for overseas operating income margin, in line with the increase in profit, we also had cost reduction related to structural transformation, so this increased 1.0 point and reached 6.4% overall. Let me now turn to contributing factors by segment. Let me start with the integrated ICT business segment. Now there was negative impact from price reduction in consumer communication and the reduction in mobile communication service revenue continues. However, there's a comfortable increase in enterprise business and smart life business. We also had cost reduction efforts. So both operating revenue and operating income increased in the integrated ICT business segment. As for regional communication business segment, as I have already explained earlier, there was the impact from increasing electricity costs, and also with regard to fiber service, remote work and online cross-related demand has more or less run its course. And also, we did not have the one-off positive factor or non-recurring factor such as the Olympic Games and the Olympic Games last year. So therefore, both operating revenue and operating income declined in this sector. At the risk of repeating myself, in the case of regional communication business segment, on top of we see some very challenging impact from the electricity cost increase. However, throughout the year, we will work to reduce costs and also we see expanding revenue from sustainability question and growth business. So as we move toward the year end, we hope to expand revenue from this segment. So we want to reach the annual guidance, which is increasing both revenue and income. That is what we hope to achieve. Turning now to global solution business segment. As far as this segment is concerned, we see increased revenue from strong demand for digital services. So in and out of Japan, we see increased revenue from digital services. Also, Trinity Entities Limited, they have expanded their high-value services. And also, global business, global operating companies have worked to realize social transformation through cost reduction. So both operating revenue and operating income increased in this segment year on year. Now, as for the other segment, we have seen increase in electricity and business at Ennett. And also, as we have been explaining, we see increase in revenue from electricity fees reflecting the rise in commodity price. So we're able to pass on the cost to our customers and revenue in this segment is increasing. So in this segment we see increase in both operating revenue and operating income. Let me now turn to some of the topics on hand. Please turn to page seven of your material. Let me start with the initiatives to resolve food and environmental issues. As far as our efforts in this area is concerned, we will form a planning company in furtherance of establishing a green food business with a company called Regional Fish Institute Limited. And we intend to do this in March. Well, what type of business will this be involved in? Please take a look at the chart and the diagram. There are two parts to this. So we have the land-based aquaculture. So We will be involved in land-based agriculture system, and also we'll be also harvesting algae on land as well. Enrich the Fish Institute is a company with genome editing in relation to land-based agriculture system. They're able to accelerate the growth of the fish. They're able to increase the flesh meat of the fish. Now, on our side, we have technology in relation to genome editing of algae, the technology to accelerate the growth and the harvesting of algae. So we'll be able to cultivate and accelerate the cultivation of algae, which means that the ability to absorb CO2 can expand. They have the ability to fixate CO2 that they absorb. So by accelerating COVID cultivation, we'll be able to use algae as the feed for fish. And by using this in the land-based agriculture system, it means that we'll be able to further expand to the size of the land-based agriculture system. So that is the system which we hope to establish down the line. So as the first step toward this end, we'll be establishing a green food business with the Regional Fish Institute, and we're going to set up a planning company. And we plan to establish a joint venture between the planning company and Regional Fish Institute in the first half of fiscal year 2033. This will be the company that will actually be involved in this business on the ground So that is how we would like to start the business. So through these initiatives, we hope to resolve various social issues, reduction of global environmental impact, reach the best fishing industry, and so forth. And through this, we hope to be able to respond to food shortages that we see around the world. So that is what we would like to contribute toward down the line.

Next on page eight, initiatives in the space business. For this initiative, with us and Space Compass, have established a company to promote the space business. And in order to, for the early realization of a global rollout of this, we have concluded a partnership agreement with Skyloom Global Corporation. What this means originally is that, as you can see on this diagram, the so-called, the LEO, the Low Earth Orbit Satellite. This is something that a satellite used for Earth observation, and from here to the surface of Earth, they will transmit data, but it's only during the limited time length and only limited data capacity. But for us, the GEO, the Geostationary Orbit Satellite, by using that, we... will provide the optical data relay service. So through this geo to the surface of Earth, we will provide a high-speed transmission data service. And it will become possible with a large data capacity as well. So together with this Skyloom Global Corporation, we will work together with Skyloom we will launch three geostationary orbit satellites. And to begin with, at the end of fiscal year 2022, we will start this business, and we will launch one geo over Asia and gradually expand the business globally. And next, on page nine, this is the status for remote working units. Last July, we have introduced the work system with working remotely as a standard. And it's about six months have passed since then, and I would like to report the status. The employees eligible for the system, we started as 30,000, and currently it's 40,000. So we have expanded the eligible employees by 10,000. And by using this working system, how many employees are posted away from their family were reduced was about 400. In actual numbers, the employees posted away from their families was reduced by 900, and there were 500 employees who have newly started being posted away from their family. So, as a total, overall, 400 employees were reduced for being posted away from their families. And the next page, this time we have conducted the survey for working remotely of our employees, and the results are shown on page 10. Having this work system with working remotely as standard, we were able to improve the flexibility of working and the productivity is also improving. So we would like to expand the scope of the eligible employees and promote this initiative. And lastly, on page 11, we are showing the progress of the medium-term management strategy initiative and showing the third quarter progress. So we would like you to go through them. That is all for my briefings. Thank you.

Thank you very much. That was Mr. Shimada, the Senior Executive Vice President. We would now like to go on to the Q&A session. We've got your questions. We're able to take questions from those of you who are taking part online and who have registered beforehand and who are connected to the phone conversation right now. If you have any questions, please push asterisk followed by number one. If you wish to cancel your question, please push asterisk followed by number two. So we would now like to take your questions. We have a question from Assemblies and Equal Securities. Mr. Kikuchi, the floor is yours. Kikuchi-san, please. Thank you very much. Kikuchi is my name. Thank you for taking my question. There was a Q&A during the press conference, and you talked about this earlier as well. The impact of the impact from the rise in electricity prices, that's what I would like to confirm. The trend continues from the second quarter into the third quarter, and it is the West. Cost is increasing, and you're not able to observe the overall increase in cost. So at Entity East, based on the supplementary data, we take a look at supplementary data, 6.9 billion increase in cost, and 12.1 billion increase for Entity West. So the regional communication segment close to 20.4 billion increase is seen. So what is the impact from the electricity fees? I think you mentioned the number 50 billion in the press conference. Can you talk about the impact of the rise in electricity price? And also, can you give us a breakdown of increase in cost that's not related to increase in electricity price? Also, you mentioned that this impact could expand in the fourth quarter and the same trend could continue into the following year. Can you give us some numbers to indicate the potential increase in electricity cost? That's my first question. Yes, thank you for the question. with regard to the impact of rising electricity price. But overall, I think the number we have been given is 45 billion overall. At Docomo and AT&T, they account for the bulk of this increase. It's very difficult to be specific at first number circumstance, but I think the impact is roughly similar across these companies. I think that is the rough understanding that you should have in relation to the impact. And also with regard to quarter-to-quarter electricity rise impact. Well, for the second quarter and the third quarter, the impact of price has been significant to both the second quarter and third quarter. And I would imagine that the similar trend will probably continue into the fourth quarter as well. That is our outlook. But having said this though, there is the issue of the government's assistance and support. In the fourth quarter, there's going to be introduction of the government support and government assistance. So there's going to be the impact of reducing the burden on our company. And I believe that it's a very complicated system. I'm not yet sure about the specifics of the census scheme. but I believe the government assistance will probably have a positive impact for mitigating the impact from the rising electricity prices. Thank you, that is my response. Thank you for your response. Then I'll go on to my second question. As inclusive of this, NNACC will be developing a year for the medium term management strategy. I'm sure that we cannot get these final numbers at this juncture, but I just want to hear your thinking on this matter. I think around in the previous year and at the beginning of the fiscal year, compared with your prediction for at the beginning of the fiscal year and in the previous year, first of all, it was negative. Now, of course, the trend of the electricity price is a downside factor. Also, in the case of different segments, urban solutions, for example, their progress in profit growth is not very strong. So the impact of the price and of the increase in energy cost, that has been a factor on urban development. But then on the other hand, in the global business, I think the performance is primarily exceeding your expectation, perhaps. So next fiscal year will be the final year for the immediate plan. So what are some of the potential upsides and downsides as you embark on the final year of the immediate management strategy plan? That is my second question. Thank you. Thank you very much for the question. This is a very difficult question you have raised. I think you wanted to hear our outlook for the next fiscal year. It's very difficult to talk specifically about the coming next fiscal year, but maybe we can share with you what we see as the trend for this fiscal year. Well, first of all, when we think of the growth of the portfolio, DOCOMO is a very major part of the portfolio. So what about DOCOMO? What is the assessment to get the mobile communications service revenue. I'm sure that Docomo will explain in their meeting later on. But I think we see an improved trend for the improved ARPU. This has been continuing from the second quarter, and this trend continues. So in terms of revenue structure, I think the improved ARPU, if this continues into next year, I think this will help to stabilize the revenue structure for Docomo. On top of that, in the case of the enterprise business at Docomo, We have, of course, converged and integrated the Enterprise Services for ICT Communications and Docomo, and that effect of the integration is now beginning to translate into concrete results. So that indicates, I believe, that we are on track with what we expected, which means that the business structure at Docomo Group has really improved as a result of this integration. And we see very positive, progress in this area and turn it into a global business. NTD Limited and NTD Data. Again, here, with regard to digital demand, digital transformation or DX is very strong. This applies to the domestic business for NTD Data as well. And so the short amount of DX now is translating to concrete orders and this is then turning into revenue. Of course, there are, of course, ups and downs from different factors. But in terms of totality, we see this very positive trend. So as far as we're concerned, we believe that we've been able to see progress in the transformation of business structure. And I believe we are on track as far as the progress we envisage for the military management strategy is concerned. On the other hand, in terms of the macroeconomy, there are uncertainties as far as the macroeconomy is concerned. For example, the rising electricity price is one factor out of that. And also we see the rising trend in the interest rates and the interest rate hikes turning to the United States. The Fed, FRB, is continuing to tighten their interest rate policy. And so there are questions as to potential recession as a result of this policy. So we turn to the next fiscal year, compared with what we had envisioned earlier as a great asset and disease. We've got electricity price. This has had an impact on our domestic business for DoCoMo as those who are in disease don't last. For DoCoMo, they're just embarked on as electricity business of their own. So that has had a very negative impact on the business which they just started. So there are positive sides which we envisage, but also negative sides This was more than what we had expected. So turning to next fiscal year, I think there's going to be a mixture of both optimism and pessimism. It's going to be mixed back, if you will. So I hope you understand our position. Thank you. Thank you very much. Very clear. Thank you. That is all.

Mr. Kikuchi, thank you very much. We would like to take the next question from Nomura Securities. Mr. Masano, please go ahead. I have two questions. The first is regarding the segment, breakout of the Global Solution segment, three months ear-on-ear. it's a 12.9% increase. But just looking at limited, three months, it's 7.1 billion increase in profit. So the remaining is about 6 billion. And that is data and others. I think that is a breakdown of that number. Is that breakdown correct? And limited infrastructure reform and the data center business has increased. So those were the drivers for the global solutions. And for the others, Overall, $5.4 billion increase in profit is what I think, but urban solutions is $6.2 billion operating income decline has occurred. So other is $11.6 billion increase in profit. Probably the wholesale markets are selling electricity again has contributed is what I think. So that means that for entities east and west, The negative impact due to electricity cost, probably half plus of that is recovered through an old business seems to be the situation. So I just wanted to confirm the actual results of these. Thank you. This is Atani Yama from Corporate Strategy Planning. I would like to answer that question. First of all, for the global segment, For NTT Limited, just a single third quarter as a profit, $12.8 billion. For first quarter, second quarter, first quarter is $6.2, and the second quarter is $100 million. So in the third quarter, it's $12.8 billion. And so the total is the number shown here. So detecting that, what remains is the data numbers. That is the degree of the increase of a profit for three months. So compare these three months and the previous three months. With the over-global solutions, it's $12.9 billion. But just looking at just limited, it's $7.1 billion. So at data and others, it's $5.8 billion. So limited is $7.1 billion. It's good. And the increase, $7.1 billion. Out of that, the structure reform factor, positive factor, and data center business increase. So how much of that? occurred, can it be accumulated number or three months? Three months please, accumulated. Okay, three, just looking at the single third quarter, the structure reform positive impact for limited is 5.3 billion, well, five billion. That's year on year. It's about five billion. And structure reform is the opposite, gone down by two billion So, plus and minus of that is a $7 billion profit was generated. So, for the others, the three months and single month year-on-year comparison, Urban Solutions is $6.2 billion. that the three-month year-on-year has a $6.2 billion decline. So, at a node, it will be $11.6 billion increase. That is selling electricity. I just wanted to confirm if that is correct. Mr. Musno, you are correct. Okay. If that is so, the entities, the West and the Docomo's electricity price increase seems to be the focus point, but on a consolidated basis, probably half of that increase is offset. Is the correct understanding? Or is it more that's being offset? This is Nakayama speaking. Yes, as you have mentioned, at the third quarter, electricity price increase overall group is $65 billion and must Sunil-san, your question is that probably half of that, and it is generating a positive profit, right? Which is three months, just three months. Just a moment. I don't have the numbers for only the three months, but on a cumulative basis, the trend is as explained and as you have commented. Okay. So full year in the group is the minus $60 billion. Third quarter, nine months, is $45 billion. Okay. So fourth quarter, just simply calculating, is about $15 billion. So Ennett, if they have about $10 billion of a profit, I'm just thinking that you were able to offset quite a bit of it. Yes, but the profit of Ennett, the secured business price, and at the market, what the price is going to be – Also, it depends on that also. So whether the same trend is going to continue on into the fourth quarter, we cannot simply just say that. That is the content. Okay, understood. Thank you very much. Okay, I understand about that. The second question is the integrated ICT segment, a very strong performance, especially the mobile ARPU, the mobile communications service of revenue for three months compared to a year ago. It's only gone down by $2.4 billion, so I think it's very good. And as for consumer communications, the operating profit in three months compared to previous years is $7.2 billion decline. I was wondering if the unexpected cost has increased in addition to the hiking electricity cost. Why is the mobile revenue or the ARPU strongly performing? And the enterprise business is also performing well. So as explained before, The enterprise business synergy effect, how much is that generated? They are performing very strongly, so I just wanted to know the background and the reason behind this. Yes. Regarding the ARPU from the second quarter, as has been explained, the trend has not changed, meaning that the medium bucket, the large bucket usage has increased. And we call that an upsell, but that has increased, and that positive effect is largely contributing, is what we think. On the other hand, the downside factors, for example, from the existing old plans transferring over to GigaLight in 2018, 2019, We had the price decline, and due to the impact, we had a large number of subscribers moving over to a lower-priced plan. But the Giga Lite customers are increasing, and with this transferring over to a different plan, the number of subscribers is declining. So the degree of the decline itself is becoming smaller. And also for the enterprise business, The mobile and fixed line services can be provided as a set and that is showing a very positive impact. We are able to respond to the customer's demand and needs and do sales activities that meet those needs. As for the synergy effect, how much is the difference from before is difficult to express in actual numbers of revenue. is where I would like you to look at to grasp the actual situation. Thank you very much. So regarding the synergy, the operating profit, the enterprise business is increasing strongly. So there is a positive impact of the synergy as well. Is that correct? It has a good effect on the profit, yes, because the revenue is strongly performing, and that is contributing to the push-up in the profit side or the bottom line. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Masuno. We'll go on to the next question. Morgan Stanley, Mr. Tanaka, the floor is yours. Thank you very much. Tanaka here. Can you hear my voice? Yes, we hear you. Thank you very much. Yes, I would like to ask one question, if I may. It relates to Entity Limited. Earlier, you mentioned that you carried out social transformation and that the effect is now being translated into reduced cost. Now, as far as this matter is concerned, first of all, I think you mentioned 30 billion in the annual target, but I think the effect benefit was actually 4.1 billion, right? So if we base ourselves on the number that you mentioned earlier, On a cumulative basis, I think $34 billion is already done for social transformation. The effect is now, the effect remains in Albania, but as far as the expense is concerned, are you going to spend in line with the plan? In the first quarter, you didn't spend that much, but then the large spending in the second quarter, but they made down in the third quarter. Will the expenses be increasing in the fourth quarter? I would like to ask how you intend to spend in relation to cost for structural transformation. Thank you, Tanya, for corporate strategy planning. With respect to structural transformation expenses, yes, we envision $38 billion for the full year, and we spent already $23 billion until the quarter. Right now, we intend to go in line with the plan. We intend to use the expense in line with the plan. As for the specifics of the spending, Well, operations are being overhead and human and optimization of human resources. We've made progress after the quarter and we intend to continue this in the fourth quarter as well. And also on top of that, we will continue to introduce crowd service. Immigration and security business will continue. So right now, yes, we intend to Spend 38 billion at the end of the year, as in line with the plan. Because we mentioned 41 billion on a yearly basis, yes, it will be roughly 20 billion. That is increased re-investment. Thank you very much for that. If I could ask, we look at social transformation expenses. It's like an optimization of human resources. Was it more skewed towards the second quarter? Are we really going to be spending that much money at the end of the day? Well, again, we intend to proceed in line with the plan. So we mentioned 30 billion yen. Right now, we intend to spend that money as we planned. Of course, we have to monitor the circumstances and consider whether or not we're going to actually spend the full amount at the end of the day. So right now, we cannot give you a clear response to this matter. But, yes, we intend to spend it. Right now, we intend to spend 30 billion yen. Thank you for the response. Do you think that, what about next fiscal year? With the excesses coming down in the next fiscal year, can you talk about the trend, can you talk about the trend starting for the next fiscal year as far as the spending is concerned? Well, next year, I think this transformation needs to be pursued to a certain degree, but then we will be embarking on a different phase. So, sensitive data, Inc. We will now have discussions of protecting integration with Entity Data, Inc. So probably shifting to spending with the integration of Entity Data, Inc. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you very much. That is clear. Thank you.

Mr. Tanaka, thank you very much. We'd like to take the next question. Goldman Sachs Securities. Mr. Tanaka, please go ahead. This is Tanaka from Goldman Sachs Securities. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Thank you very much. I have two questions. The first is slightly related to Mr. Kikuchi's question, and I just wanted to confirm. The electricity cost hike, the annual impact of $60 billion, has that not changed? And NTT East and West are strongly impacted by that, and the progress against the plan, they're struggling. The cost reduction plan and the full year are there in line with the plan? Can I just confirm that first? First of all, the $60 billion impact of the hike in electricity cost, that outlook we believe will be as such. So we have not changed that. Looking at the actuals, we think that it is going to be in line with that outlook. And also regarding the entity east and west, the cost reduction initiatives, They are facing quite a difficult situation as a regional communications business. And within that situation, if you look at how the expenses and costs are being generated, it seems that NDT West has more of the difficult situation. There's electricity cost hike, as well as in terms of cost reduction, the expenses are On the expense side, they're not seeing that much of a track record. So in that sense, NTT East and West, they're both facing difficulties. But in terms of the degree of the difficulty, West is facing more of a difficulty. Understood. And my second question is related to probably what was said right now. In terms of the company-wide cost reduction progress, Looking at the supplementary materials on page two, the progress up to the third quarter, for the two past quarters, the cost reduction amount itself seems to not be progressing that much. So the $930 billion of the full year How much, from where, are you looking for the fourth quarter? Is the progress itself facing a difficulty as well? Can you please explain? This is Rataniyama from Corporate Strategy Planning. It's $930 billion in annual basis. Up to the third quarter, it's $880 billion. FY 2022, in a single year, we are planning to reduce $90 billion, and the progress is $40 billion. As we have been explaining since before, the impact of the hiking electricity cost group-wide is $45 billion. So excluding that, so add $45 billion, so it's $85 billion. That is the progress. It's how we look at it. However, having said that, the hike of the electricity cost does exist. So NTD East, West, and Dokomo, in order to cover that hike, They have several initiatives and several additional cost reduction initiatives being worked upon and entities in the West in order to achieve that cost. In order for them to achieve the profit target, the cost reduction must be done. So they are implementing various initiatives to further reduce the cost. So towards achieving the target, they will put their full efforts into this. If that is so, after the third quarter, the progress, It's not just strong. It seems that the strength has stopped from the second quarter, the impact of the electricity cost increase. Due to that, there was a slight of a delay. Is that understanding correct? Yes. Okay, understood. That is all from my side. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Tameka. We'll take questions from other people. If there are any questions, we would like to take them now. Then from Delaware Securities, Mr. Ando, you have the floor. Mr. Ando, please. Thank you. This is Ando here. Can you hear my voice? Can you speak up a little bit, please? Yes, of course. Thank you very much. Thank you. I would like to ask one question about the electricity situation. Earlier, you mentioned that during the fourth quarter, the electricity fees, could actually be supported by the government assistance. You mentioned the possibility of government assistance in relation to the electricity fee burden. If I may ask, do you think that this will be a factor in the next fiscal year as well? And do you believe and are you going to factor that in as you plan for the next fiscal year? Are you going to predict the performance of the Outlook Guaranty to the east and west based on the premise that the government assistance will be incorporated I would appreciate your philosophy with regard to the prediction of the performance for entity west of east and west for fiscal year 2023 and how you see the government assistance at that juncture. Thank you. Yes, thank you very much. With regard to the government assistance and support, I think the idea is that it will continue until September. That seems to be the mechanism here. So... In the first half, yes, we can probably rely on this assistance. So that is the assumption in which we'll be coming up with the plan for the next fiscal year. But having said that, this will depend on the government budget, and also this will depend on how severe the impact is on the lives of the Japanese public. So this will be the variable here. With regard to the base electricity price for this fiscal year, Yes, it's significant in fiscal year 2022. And also in fiscal year 2023, I think we have to prepare for the situation that the electricity prices could rise to a certain level as well. And that increase in prices is likely to be quite significant as a possibility. So in the first half, we are likely to rely on the assistance of the government. We have to see how much the... We will not be able to predict the concrete outcome, concrete impact, without the assistance of the government's assistance. At this juncture, we cannot give you the very detailed prediction. I hope you understand. Yes, thank you for your response. Let me turn to my second question then. I think you mentioned this during the Q&A session at the press conference. Mr. Shimada mentioned that data center remains a very strong business. And it was mentioned that next fiscal year, data center business growth can be expected. That is my understanding of the Q&A at the press conference. So let me now turn to my question. With regard to technology sector, the data center, it still remains strong. In the tech sector, the demand for data center remains still strong. It has not been affected too much. And despite the concerns in the stock market, I believe the strong performance in the data center business continues. So where's this gap coming from, do you think? Is there a reason why there's a gap between market expectation and the actual performance of your business? If you have any interpretation of the situation, I would appreciate it. Thank you very much. Yes, thank you for the question. As far as this matter is concerned, it's very difficult to respond to your question. As you know, when we have discussions with various data center businesses, And this, of course, this relates to the macroeconomic situation, but I believe the overall trend towards digital transformation and DX still remains very firm and strong. And this is also applicable to the global market as well. So that is the backdrop. So players like GAFA and the so-called hyperscalers, they still have very strong demand. And also, they're working to reduce costs in their own right. So with regard to data centers, the investment toward data center resources, they continue to expand. And since the demand for expanding their data center resources has not yet waned, that has not yet eroded, that is our interpretation of the demand among the hyperscalers. Now, right now, the interest rate is on an upward trend. So that factor needs to be considered. And there are concerns about possible recession as a result of the hike in the interest rate. But when we talk to different various businesses, the needs for digital transformation and data centers, they still remain very strong. Of course, if the interest rates were to hike or to increase at a certain level, that's the possibility of a recession. But the basic requirements for GX will not disappear. So the speed might be moderated somewhat should the interest rate reach a certain level. But once the interest rate stabilizes, again, the demand is likely to be translated into an upward trend. So there might be some impact from recession, but it's not going to have a severe dent on the demand. Many people, aside from Japan, are saying that they will defer the plan. That is the only effect. So that is my interpretation of the trend. Also, if I may add, as far as the data surgery is concerned, the fund and financial players are very active. because it was very profitable for them. So as far as financing is concerned, we are reliant on outside sources when the interest rate is rising, yet increase the price, which means that the demand and the supply may not be in sync. Now, of course, we are monitoring the interest rate hike, but we're confident that we're able to realize returns which exceed the increasing interest rate. Maybe that accounts for the different interviews between the marketplace and the actual performance. Thank you very much.

Mr. Ando, thank you very much. We are getting close to the ending time, so we would like to take the next question as the last question. B of A Securities, Mr. Kinoshita, please go ahead. This is Kinoshita speaking. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. I have two simple questions. The first is this fiscal year, how it will end up. Regional communication seems to be facing slight difficulties, and they want to achieve the target. But from the overall perspective, the other is performing strongly. And if it goes as it does, and global solutions maybe they may exceed what they have been planning. So the negative factor, even though the regional communications goes under, these two other businesses probably can absorb that negativity. Is that way of thinking correct? And also ICT, looking at the overall ARPU trend, I think that there may be an upside. So can you share your rough thoughts on the points, okay, then roughly I would like to respond as well. It's not that we can stay back and relax. That's not the situation. As you have pointed out, the integrated ICT and the global business, we can have a certain degree of expectations for their performance so that they can, we will put our efforts in so that we can achieve the annual target and I'd like you to take it as the answer. So for the others, Last year in the fourth quarter, they have had a decline in the operating revenue. It's the same trend that's going to happen this year as well, because in the annual basis, they have already achieved the profit level. For the first quarter, we don't expect them to have a large decline. Okay, understood. Thank you. And also, regarding the fiscal year, up to the third quarter, of the profit before tax and how it goes down to the profit. The full year plan, it seems that the fourth quarter, the profit, whether the tax rate's gonna go up maybe So in the first half, there was a reverse from the tax, and there's a unique factor. So naturally, it is going to be this way? Or are there any special factors that are going to impact the final numbers in profit? Well, as you have mentioned, Mr. Kinoshita, that situation does exist. The corporate tax or the deferred tax asset in the quarter basis, it goes up and down. So, on a full-year basis, the current annual outlook, I think, is what you should look at. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Kinoshita. With this, we would like to conclude the briefing session of the school year 2022 third quarter financial results.