Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) has announced itself as the first gold partner of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will be held in Tokyo.
The telecommunications firm has signed a six-year agreement and will sponsor Japan's Olympic athletes throughout that period. The gold partner level is the highest domestic sponsorship position being sold by Tokyo 2020's newly-formed organising committee.
An AP report earlier in January suggested gold partner sponsorships would be sold for a minimum of US$128 million.
NTT said that five of its group companies may have an involvement in the sponsorship over the coming years, including NTT East, NTT West, NTT Communications and NTT Docomo.
NTT was previously a supplier of telecommunications services for the 1964 Olympics, held in Tokyo, and Japan's winter Games, Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998.
A company statement announcing its Tokyo 2020 deal said: 'In addition to helping make the Games’ telecommunications safe, secure, and welcoming, NTT is taking advantage of the Group’s telecommunications related security technologies and its telecommunications service infrastructure inside and outside Japan, endeavouring to act as a 'Value Partner' in providing an unprecedented level of hospitality to the Tokyo 2020 and other relevant organisations, as well as competitors and guests from Japan and overseas.
