NTT DOCOMO Ventures Invests in dhost Global, Inc., Operator of an Indoor Infrastructure Sharing Business in Southeast Asia

　NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Jun Yasumoto; hereinafter, “NDV”) is pleased to announce that, through a fund that it manages, it has invested in dhost Global, Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO : Takahiro Wada; hereinafter “dhost”), which operates an indoor infrastructure sharing business in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

　dhost, a subsidiary of EXEO Group, Inc. (Head Office: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Tetsuya Funabashi ; hereinafter “EXEO Group”), builds indoor antenna facilities and other equipment on behalf of telecommunications carriers at sites in Southeast Asia in need of indoor telecommunications networks, operates and maintains this equipment, and provides services to supply equipment for multiple telecommunications carriers. It currently has the largest number of facilities and installation sites in Indonesia.

　Southeast Asia is one of the most populous regions in the world, and Indonesia’s population is the fourth largest of any country. Consequently, as 4G smartphones become more popular in countries like Indonesia, data traffic is increasing dramatically. However, there is insufficient provision of outdoor base stations to cope with these changes in the market, and in large facilities such as shopping malls, there are many areas where it is difficult to get a signal indoors. dhost’s indoor infrastructure sharing service is a high-quality service that draws on the technology and expertise that the EXEO Group has cultivated in its telecommunications infrastructure facility construction business, and is highly regarded by local telecommunications carriers as a means of resolving these issues.

　The NTT Group aims to create new value by solving social issues. In Southeast Asia, it has launched the “NTT Startup Challenge”*1, a group-wide program to promote collaboration among startups, starting in April 2024. In addition to this investment, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (hereinafter, “NTT East”) and dhost also concluded a basic agreement on August 9, 2024 (Fri). This agreement focuses on focusing on the possibility of collaboration in general infrastructure sharing in Southeast Asia and a possible business alliance with Vietnam AWING Technologies and Media Joint Stock Company *2, which develops a platform business for digital advertising distribution via Wi-Fi.

　NTT Group companies are increasingly interested in creating new businesses in Southeast Asia. With this investment, dhost and NTT Group will further strengthen their collaboration and aim to create new value.

■dhost Global, Inc. Profile
Name: dhost Global, Inc.
Head Office: 3F Shiodome Building, 1-2-20 Kaigan, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Representative: Takahiro Wada, President and CEO
Areas of Business: Indoor infrastructure sharing business for mobile network operators and ISPs
Website: https://dhost.net/jp/

*1: Press release: “NTT Group Launches First Overseas Startup Collaboration Program: ‘NTT Startup Challenge’”
https://group.ntt/en/newsrelease/2024/07/29/240729a.html
*2: A Vietnamese company in which NTT e-Asia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT East, has invested.
Press release: “Investment in AWING (Vietnam), a Platform Business that Connects Wi-Fi Owners and Advertisers in Multiple Ways” (in Japanese)
https://www.ntte-asia.co.jp/pdf/20240325_JP.pdf