DOCOMO to Launch Sale of English Transcription Service “Otter” in Japan—Facilitate Efficiency of Online Operations Including Web Meetings—

NTT DOCOMO, INC. (hereinafter, DOCOMO) signed a 2-year exclusive distribution agreement (hereinafter, the Agreement) in Japan with a U.S. corporation, Otter.ai, Inc. (hereinafter, Otter.ai) over sale of the Business plan of “Otter™,” AI-powered Otter Voice Meeting Notes live transcription application service that automatically transcribes voices spoken in English offered by Otter.ai to improve productivity of the Japanese business　persons facing the progress of globalization. Based on the signing of the Agreement, DOCOMO begins sale of the Business plan of “Otter” that automates the work to prepare minutes in English for the Japanese corporate clients who have many international negotiations/meetings from Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Moreover, DOCOMO made an additional investment in Otter.ai in March 2021 through its wholly-owned subsidiary, NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc. (hereinafter, DOCOMO Ventures).

“Otter” is characterized by highly accurate transcription in real time while automatically modifying sentences according to the context of the speech. It further identifies voice of speakers and enables creation of data of multiple speakers and the content in a set. By contracting with DOCOMO, accounting and payment in the Japanese yen highly needed by Japanese companies can be selected, and the Otter Business plan can be used for \33,000/year for one account (including tax).

Going forward, DOCOMO, which has the knowledge of sound translation, nurtured in automatic translation application “Hanashite Hon’yaku® ,” Otter.ai, which has highly accurate transcription technology, and Mirai Translate, Inc. (hereinafter, Mirai Translate), which provides “Mirai Translator®” machine translation service equivalent to 960 scores of TOEIC, will proceed with discussion for more advanced service provision.

DOCOMO and DOCOMO Ventures will use the Agreement as a stepping stone to cooperate with Otter.ai for developments of new markets and services for transcription in the Japanese market and facilitation of reinforced collaboration with diverse partners.

* “Otter” is a trademark of Otter.ai.
* “Hanashite Hon’yaku” is a trademark of DOCOMO.
* “Mirai Translator” is a trademark of Mirai Translate.

【Attachment 1】

English Transcription Service “Otter”

１．Service outline
“Otter” is a service to make English conversations recorded on PC or smartphone into texts in real time using AI technology. The use of Otter enables a substantial reduction in time to produce minutes of meetings, speeches, and interviews in the English languages or reports, and a review using recorded conversations and the texts easily.

＜Main functions＞
・Enables highly accurate transcription in real time while automatically modifying sentences according to the context of the speech
・Rich note function enables image insertion, text editing, and highlight operation
・AI learns users’ voices and clearly identifies and labels speakers for record
・Intuitive operation enables sharing of minutes (conversation voices) data

＜Accuracy of transcription＞
Confirmation of the accuracy of transcription can be made from this video：
​http://youtube.com/watch?v=Al_j-a1Jnmo&t=31s

＜Otter Business plan＞
In addition to main functions offered in the free plan , functions as typified below can be used in the Otter Business plan.

・As for Zoom meetings/webinars, linking among applications enables voice transcription of all participants.
(*When apps are linked in Zoom meetings/webinars, a contract of the Zoom Pro plan or above is essential)
・Enables one-stop management of conversation recorded data
・Enables registration of proper nouns/people’s names and words, and the sharing of them in teams
・Enables mutual sharing of voice recognition information of users and classification of speakers based on the information in teams
・Enables confirmation of statistics reports on the use situation
・Enables application of single sign-on (SSO) authentication (*Requirements for application: the number of users is at least 100 persons)

\33,000/year for one account (including tax)

●Service site
URL：https://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/biz/service/otter/

●For application/inquiry, please contact
・Sales personnel of Corporate Sales of DOCOMO nationwide
・Inquiry page of “Business” on the website of DOCOMO

2．Roles of individual companies
Otter.ai, Inc.
●Development and operation of “Otter”
●Sales activities for the global market

NTT DOCOMO, INC.
●Sales activities for “Otter” with a focus on the Japanese market
●Consideration of new services using DOCOMO assets including Mirai Translator

Mirai Translate, Inc.
●Consideration for achieving an end-to-end service from transcription of the English language combining Mirai Translator, machine translation service of Mirai Translate, Inc. and “Otter” to translation into the Japanese language

NTT DOCOMO Ventures, Inc.
●Investment in Otter.ai, Inc.