Business Partnerships between NTT West group companies and Aerodyne in Malaysia

Use drones for infrastructure inspections such as transmission lines

Japan Infrastructure Waymark Co., Ltd. (HQ: Osaka City, hereinafter referred to as JIW), a provider of infrastructure inspection solutions using drones, which is part of NTT West Group, and Aerodyne Group (HQ: Kuala Lumpur, hereinafter referred to as Aerodyne) a Malaysia’s drone solutions company has announced a business partnership.

JIW was established on April 1, 2019, in order to conduct business with strengths in the maintenance and management know-how of the information and communication infrastructure based on NTT West Group and inspection results using drones. Currently, we are developing inspection services for various infrastructures such as steel towers, bridges and slopes.

As for infrastructure inspection in the field of transmission and distribution facilities in Japan, maintenance of high-quality inspection has become an issue due to aging of facilities and shortage of maintenance inspectors. Drone is attracting attention as a solution leading to securing the safety of workers and shortening time with the progress of related technology, but drone has not in progressed due to regulatory and technical issues for inspection in the field of transmission and distribution facilities in Japan.

Meanwhile, Aerodyne was founded in Kuala Lumpur in 2014. Has a track record of various infrastructure inspections in 25 countries around the world, especially in Asia. In the power transmission and distribution facilities, they carry out annual inspections of 60,000 flight, 250,000 facilities, and 55,000 kilometers, and have earned high acclaim worldwide.

The two companies will combine their skills and jointly develop a drone inspection service for power equipment which is most suitable for Japanese business practices, and JIW will sell exclusively in the Japanese market. The service jointly developed by this business partnership is considered not only for infrastructure operators who own power facilities throughout Japan, but also for Japanese companies that own assets overseas.

In addition, in order to establish a foundation structure for stable and efficient provision of inspection services, we are considering establishing an inspection center mainly for Malaysian foreign students in Japan.

Reference: Business partnership between Japan Infrastructure Waymark Co., Ltd. of NTT West Group and Asia's No. 1 Drone Solution Company from Malaysia, Aerodyne Group (PRTIMES)