KDDI's Material Issues for CSR: Creating a Safe and Secure Information and Communications Society

KDDI, Okinawa Cellular, and the KDDI Group Welfare Association have been conducting KDDI Smartphone and Mobile Phone Safety Classes throughout Japan since the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 as a way to educate children on the safe and secure use of smartphones and mobile phones. The classes provide necessary information on rules and etiquette and teach children how to identify and protect themselves from trouble.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, we held 3,806 classes for elementary, junior high, and high school students, as well as their guardians and teachers, with some 680,000 people attending.
KDDI has measured the impact of these courses on those participating, conducting surveys before and after the collaborative courses held by industry, government, and academia in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. Improvements were seen in trends toward avoiding trouble in all seven items surveyed following those courses. The course content was also summarized to produce a DVD teaching tool, available for borrowing, which was recognized with an award of excellence in the Commendation on Instructional Materials for Consumers, sponsored by the National Institute on Consumer Education.
The program of courses is reviewed each year, and KDDI is working to update video explanations and subject material and to introduce other teaching tools that will raise children's awareness.
In our programs for seniors, we also offer a Smartphone Course for Seniors and a Tablet Course for Seniors targeting people mainly under the age of 70 who either do not own a smartphone or who have a smartphone but do not know how to use it.
KDDI employees visit community facilities to act as instructors. Each participant in the courses is loaned an au smartphone or tablet, and images of instructors performing the various operations are projected onto a screen, helping participants to learn the basics of operating smartphones and tablets, and gain experience in sending e-mail and using the Internet.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, a new Disaster Readiness Course was also established, where participants can also learn about effective use of smartphones during a disaster. They also learn about apps that are useful in responding to emergencies, and how to confirm the safety of loved ones and contact them during emergencies using disaster bulletin boards and other services.
We will continue to improve these programs as we help seniors learn how to use smartphones and tablets to make their lives more convenient and comfortable in a secure and safe way.

The concept of "digital inclusion"―creating a society in which everyone can benefit from the advantages of ICT―is gaining attention as ICT comes into use in all areas of people's lives. To enhance its customer experience value, KDDI believes it is important to provide products and services that allow all customers to experience the joy of communication more than ever.
KDDI is committed to providing products and services from a customer perspective to allow even more people the world over―adults, children, the elderly, and those with disabilities―access to the benefits of a variety of products and services without disparity, and to create a society in which ICT is accessible to all.

Initiatives through Products