KDDI : to launch au International Call Flat Rate service, offering voice calls to 23 countries and territories for a flat monthly fee

―For a monthly fee starting at ¥980, customers can make up to fifty 15-minute calls per month at no extra charge―

No.2016-002

• KDDI CORPORATION
• Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company

January 7,2016

KDDI and Okinawa Cellular have announced plans to launch the au International Call Flat Rate service, which offers international calls for a flat monthly rate. Launched in March 2016, the service will be available to customers who subscribe to Kakeho (Unlimited Calling Plan) or Super Kakeho (Unlimited Calling Plan S) for domestic calls in Japan.

The au International Call Flat Rate service will be offered for a monthly fee of ¥980 (tax exempt) to customers who subscribe to the Flat-rate Data 5/8/10/13 service [1], or ¥1,480 (tax exempt) to customers who subscribe to the Flat-rate Data 2/3 service [1]. The service will provide great savings by enabling up to 50 voice calls per month at no extra charge [2], as long as each call is 15 minutes or less. For calls that are longer than 15 minutes, the same calling charge as for domestic calls (¥20/30 seconds) will be applied to the portion that exceeds 15 minutes. The areas covered by the service will include 23 countries and territories when the service is launched, with more to be added in the future. [3]

Ranking	Countries and territories	Number of people (Persons)	Composition percentage (%)	Availability of the au Intenational Flat Rate service
1	China	656,403	30.2	Yes
2	South Korea and North Korea	497,707	22.9	Yes (excluding North Korea)
3	Philippines	224,048	10.3	Yes
4	Brazil	173,038	8.0	Yes
5	Vietnam	124,820	5.7	Yes
6	USA	51,523	2.4	Yes
7	Nepal	48,403	2.2	Yes
8	Peru	47,800	2.2	Yes
9	Taiwan	45,209	2.1	Yes
10	Thailand	44,175	2.0	Yes

Ranking	Reasons	Percentage (%) (Multiple answers allowed)
1	Better voice quality	46.3
2	Calls can be made without other party's ID	37.3
3	Easier operation than other apps	25.2
4	Calls can be made with phone numbers	19.4
5	In the case of urgency	14.5

As of the end of June 2015, there were approximately 2.17 million foreign residents in Japan. The areas covered by the au International Call Flat Rate service will include the home countries of approximately 91% [4] of foreign residents in Japan, providing extensive coverage of their calling destinations.
According to research conducted by KDDI, customers who are foreign residents in Japan use methods such as free voice call apps to communicate abroad. However, they tend to use mobile phones in situations such as when audio quality is a priority, when the other party cannot use the app, or when an urgent matter needs to be discussed.

In addition, as more and more Japanese families have relatives who live or study abroad, and as companies increasingly send employees overseas, there is a growing demand for international phone call services from Japan.

With the launch of this service, KDDI aims to provide greater savings while making it easier than ever for customers to use their mobile phones to make international calls.

For more details, see the Attachment.
Attachment：KDDI to launch au International Call Flat Rate service, offering voice calls to 23 countries and territories for a flat monthly fee