Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
https://telco.vmware.com/de/solutions/ran.html
MAY 9, 2022
Rakuten Mobile joined forces with three other companies to promote HADO, an augmented reality (AR) e-sport, at an arena in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. HADO is a next-generation e-sport where players strap on head-mounted displays and armband sensors to compete on a real-world court with AR. Rakuten Mobile provided the 5G network infrastructure at each venue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWtFKVKClco
https://addevice.io/blog/taxi-app-development/
Im großen Video-on-Demand-Test 2022 hat trusted 42 Streaming-Plattformen unter die Lupe genommen und stellt Ihnen hier die 9 Top-Anbieter vor. Hier finden Sie Streaming im Abo für ab 3,99 Euro pro Monat und Filme ab 2,99 Euro im flexiblen Online-Verleih sowie alles Wissenswerte rund um die einzelnen Plattformen. Vergleichen Sie jetzt und schauen Sie noch heute Ihren Lieblingsfilm oder entdecken eine neue Serie!
https://trusted.de/video-on-demand
By Linda Hardesty Apr 20, 2022 05:41pm
The RAN Integration team commissioned both indoor and outdoor base stations from the RAN to the core network after the construction work. They achieved end-to-end, zero-touch provisioning, which Rakuten says is “a first of its kind in open RAN deployment.” This allows Rakuten Mobile to visualize the network status on the operation support system (OSS) and enable remote operation and monitoring.
Shilpa Atri, department manager in the RAN Integration Department, said in a video: “Because of the automation, most of our base stations are zero-touch commissioned, helping us to bring approximately 100 to 200 sites on-air each day compared to 10 to 20 sites per day when we started these operations.”
The RAN integration Department works as a hybrid team located in Japan and India. System automation and the time-zone difference enabled a 24-hour operating shift.
Puneet Handa, division manager within the Network Engineering and Operations Division, said, “In Rakuten Mobile, we have integrated over 200,000 cells across Japan in different technologies. We built a framework which is extremely agile, efficient and scalable. Base station construction to acceptance is completely managed digitally and with a groundbreaking time from power-on to ready-for-services.”
Rakuten Mobile plans to take its processes and tools to Rakuten Symphony to re-sell them to other operators around the globe.
"So proud of what our team have done, exceeding 96% population coverage two years after our commercial launch is really an incredible achievement, with over 200,000 cells on air we are delivering on a world class mobile experience to our customers in Japan," said Rakuten Mobile CEO Tareq Amin, in a LinkedIn posting today.
https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/...-population-coverage-japan
Matt Kapko | Senior Editor April 5, 2022 7:00 PM
Rakuten Symphony today boosted its open radio access network (RAN) platform with cloud-native network functions (CNFs) from F5 that target networking and security requirements for wireless carriers.
A quartet of F5’s “BIG-IP Next” branded CNFs will be available on Rakuten Symphony later this year, including the edge firewall, policy enforcer, domain name system (DNS), and the carrier grade network address translation (CGNAT), according to both companies.
Rakuten and F5 claim the CNFs can be deployed in an automated manner while supporting continuous deployment with a lifecycle management system that reduces testing and installation from months to a matter of hours.
Rakuten Mobile also plans to deploy F5’s BIG-IP Next CNFs on its 5G open RAN in Japan, following three years of collaboration between the companies.
Rakuten Symphony, which became a standalone company to push its open RAN architecture into more networks in late 2021, has multiple acquisitions under its belt as well. The company earlier this year acquired Robin.io for an undisclosed sum, and purchased Altiostar for more than $1 billion last summer.
The Japanese company has many big-name partners, including AT&T, Cisco, Juniper Networks, Nokia, Qualcomm, and others.
https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/...rakuten-symphony/2022/04/
Angela Teng
Singapore’s online marketplace Carousell has signed a deal to acquire Refash, an omni-channel fashion recommerce retailer.
The partnership with Refash enables Carousell to take a significant next step for one of its core categories to make selling secondhand fashion even simpler, “and to power the future of sustainable and circular fashion,” said Carousell.
Quek Siu Rui, Co-founder and CEO of Carousell commented: “We see immense opportunity in teaming up to make selling even simpler for anyone time-starved who has underused clothes in their wardrobes. With our reach and expertise in using technology and AI to create seamless buy-sell experiences for secondhand, we are excited to partner and accelerate the growth of Refash.”
“The acquisition will drive a synergistic partnership between the marketplaces and accelerate the pace of recommerce in Singapore,” said Carousell.
Carousell is backed by investors including Telenor Group, Rakuten Ventures, Naver, STIC Investments, and Sequoia Capital India.
The online classifieds marketplace raised US$100 million in a round of funding in September last year, taking its valuation to US$1.1 billion.
https://vulcanpost.com/787303/...second-hand-fashion-retailer-refash/
Appetite grows as Asian culture becomes a global phenomenon
By Catherine Perloff
MARCH 23, 2022
Go to Viki and you’ll find a plethora of TV shows in languages such as Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Thai. But before assuming you’ve crawled through an internet portal to a cross-continental television experience, stick around for the ads. You’ll find blue-chip American brands like Lexus and McDonald’s advertising their wares in English.
https://www.adweek.com/convergent-tv/...r-viki-double-digit-increase/
Ericsson and Ooredoo – Ooredoo Qatar and Ericsson multi-operator indoor 5G solution
Mavenir and Vodafone UK – Making Open RAN containerized small cells solution a commercial reality
Rakuten Mobile and Airspan – Rakuten Mobile deployment of Open RAN and small cells
https://www.smallcellforum.org/awards/scf-small-cell-awards-finalists/
On February 25, 2022, Rakuten launched the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace "Rakuten NFT" at the online event #Rakuten_NFT_Launch. * The stage show introduced Intellectual Property (IP) holders currently developing media for Rakuten NFT and highlighted some examples of the exciting content that is already available. Several celebrity guests also made special appearances to promote the new service.l
[RNN] Rakuten NFT Debuts with Online Launch Event - YouTube
24 hours ago
For more than a decade Rakuten Kobo has been dedicated to its mission to make reading lives better for all; empowering booklovers around the world read anytime, anywhere and on any device.
Part of their success as a global tech company has always been tied to the way the company creates engaging, localized experiences for booklovers across 25+ countries and regions. Beginning with North America, Europe and Japan, in 2016 Rakuten Kobo officially launched in Taiwan, where the e-reading service now enjoys a significant following and steady growth. Now, after years as a top player in Taiwan, the Taiwan Kobo team is looking to the next challenge: delivering the joy of ebooks to Chinese-reading customers in Singapore and Malaysia.
Taiwan: A local success story
“When we launched Kobo in Taiwan, I think we had the correct strategy,” reflects Rakuten Kobo Taiwan general manager Julian Chou. “Five years ago, there were so few traditional Chinese ebook titles in Taiwan. We only had 9,000 titles on launch day. Now we have more than 150,000.”
“TO EXPAND OUR BUSINESS ACROSS THE ASIA REGION IS A VERY BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR US AND WE’RE WORKING TO BUILD STRONG PARTNERSHIPS, NOT ONLY WITH BUSINESS AND PUBLISHER PARTNERS, BUT ALSO WITH OUR PASSIONATE READER COMMUNITIES.”
JULIAN CHOU, RAKUTEN KOBO TAIWAN GENERAL MANAGER
Chou and his team recognized early on that for an ebook service to succeed in Taiwan, readers needed a more extensive library of ebooks written in traditional Chinese. They worked closely with publishers to convert their offerings to ebooks, and after just six months in business, Rakuten Kobo’s catalog of traditional Chinese titles had tripled.
It wasn’t long before Taiwanese readers also wanted to get their hands on Rakuten Kobo’s highly acclaimed e-readers.
“From the day we launched I was receiving messages from customers asking when we were going to start selling our e-readers in Taiwan,” Chou reveals. “We officially began selling Kobo devices in 2019. Then I started getting messages from people asking where they could experience a Kobo.”
Chou’s team went on to launch a collaboration with local bookstore and lifestyle powerhouse Eslite.
“This year we’ll have our e-readers displayed in 20 stores around Taiwan,” he reveals. “Our target is for every county or city to have a store displaying our devices. ”
Hong Kong down, Singapore and Malaysia next
By 2018, Chou’s successful management of Rakuten Kobo’s Taiwanese venture led to an opportunity managing the company’s Hong Kong business.
“70% of the traditional Chinese paper books sold in Hong Kong come from Taiwan, since both Taiwan and Hong Kong read traditional Chinese,” he explains. “We partnered with several Hong Kong ebook publishers to help them convert their catalog, and we’ve already boosted sales by a factor of three or four.”
“FIVE YEARS AGO, THERE WERE SO FEW TRADITIONAL CHINESE EBOOK TITLES IN TAIWAN. WE ONLY HAD 9,000 TITLES ON LAUNCH DAY. NOW WE HAVE MORE THAN 150,000.”
This initial expansion opened Chou’s eyes to the potential in other markets with significant Chinese-reading populations – namely, Singapore and Malaysia.
“In Singapore, the official Chinese is simplified, but most can also read traditional Chinese, especially if it’s manga or lifestyle content,” he reveals. “In Malaysia, only around 25% of the population is ethnic Chinese, but many can read both simplified and traditional Chinese.”
In Taiwan and Hong Kong, Chou’s team has taken a high-precision approach to marketing, utilizing niche channels like podcasts – a medium which has recently taken off in Taiwan – to position Kobo as a trendy lifestyle service. Chou believes that appealing to these new Chinese-reading markets won’t require a radically different strategy.
“Some Chinese-language authors are famous all throughout the Chinese speaking world,” he explains. “We will be collaborating with key opinion-leaders to introduce Kobo and books that are already very popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
In Singapore, the process of laying the groundwork has already begun. Rakuten Kobo’s devices have been available in the country since 2019, and Chou’s team has been busy forging publishing connections.
“At the end of last year, we sponsored the Singapore Book Awards. I think it’s a good start, we now have a good relationship with Singaporean publishers in both English and Chinese.”
Beyond Chinese
Chou is not limiting his ambitions to the Chinese-reading world.
“In Malaysia, the Chinese language market will be the first step, but then we’ll look at offering Malaysian content,” he outlines. “We’re also thinking about how we could expand into Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.”
In targeting these new markets, Chou hopes to forge new ground not only for Rakuten Kobo, but for e-reading itself. While other e-reading services are technically available in some Southeast Asian markets, little effort has been made to offer localized content.
It’s clear that Chou is passionate about spreading the good word of e-reading around Southeast Asia.
“We have a very strong team with real experience both in Taiwan and Hong Kong,” Chou remarks. “To expand our business across the Asia region is a very big opportunity for us and we’re working to build strong partnerships, not only with business and publisher partners, but also with our passionate reader communities.”
https://rakuten.today/blog/...-ebook-offerings-to-southeast-asia.html
MAY 11, 2022
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/innovation/rnn/2022/2204_014/
Q1/22 Revenue and Operating Income
(JPY bn)
Q1/21 Q1/22 YoY
Core Business (Includes all the businesses other than “Non-recuring Investments” and “Future Growth Investments”)
Revenue 332.7 360.2 +8.3%
Operating Income 35.9 42.3 +17.7%
Latest IR Materials
First Quarter 2022
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
https://www.irwebcasting.com/220513/52/928d4bf6dd/
The continued growth of Rakuten’s e-commerce businesses, centered on Rakuten Ichiba, led to strong growth in both revenue and operating income.
Revenue = +11.9% YoY
Operating Income = +77.3 YoY
Latest IR Materials
First Quarter 2022
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/
Da muss sich der Jeff schämen oder er muss schäumen.
- Discounts on Rakuten Magazine, NBA Rakuten and other services; Campaign to offer up to 6x Rakuten Points for purchases on Rakuten Ichiba
Tokyo, May 13, 2022 - Rakuten Mobile, Inc. today announced the new Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII service plan which will continue to offer unlimited data for a monthly fee of 2,980 yen (3,278 yen inc. tax) and add new discounts on select Rakuten Group services. Applications for new contracts for the plan open on July 1, 2022. To coincide with the announcement of the plan, campaigns will be held offering 3,000 Rakuten Points and a maximum of up to 6x Rakuten Points for purchases on Rakuten Ichiba.
Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII: An evolution of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI
As with Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI, Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII features a fee structure that flexibly adjusts with data use. For monthly data use of up to 3GB, the fee will be 980 yen (1,078 yen inc. tax), for 3GB to up to 20GB, the fee will be 1,980 yen (2,178 yen inc. tax) and for over 20GB, subscribers can use unlimited data*1 for 2,980 yen (3,278 yen inc. tax). Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII also offers a monthly allocation of 5GB of high-speed data in the domestic roaming partner network areas and 2GB of high-speed data in the overseas roaming partner network areas, and additional high-speed data can be purchased*2. Domestic calls made with the Rakuten Link communication app are free of charge*3.
Current subscribers of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI*4 will be automatically switched to Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII on July 1, 2022. Until the end of October, for a maximum of four months, a campaign will offer essentially free monthly fees on a monthly basis to Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII subscribers who use 1GB or less of data per month*5, *6.
Great value on optional services and Rakuten Group services with Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII
For Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII subscribers, the unlimited 10-minute calls option service (1,100 yen inc. tax/month), which offers unlimited free calls of up to 10 minutes through the standard calling app on the smartphone, has been upgraded to offer unlimited 15-minute calls. New subscribers who sign up for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII and existing subscribers of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI who switch plans to Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII and apply for the option service for the first time can use the service for three months free of charge*7.
In addition, new subscribers who apply for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII will be able to use select Rakuten Group services such as Rakuten Magazine and NBA Rakuten essentially free of charge for up to three months, in addition to receiving discounts and point rewards*8.
Rakuten Mail to launch with Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII
Rakuten Mail, a Rakuten Mobile domain email service available through Rakuten Link, will be launched for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII subscribers on July 1, 2022. The email service offers 1GB of storage, can send and receive large attachments, and features security measures such as email filtering. As the email service is provided through Rakuten Link, subscribers will be able to manage their calls, messaging and email through a single app.
Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII new launch campaigns
From June 1, 2022, a campaign offering up to 6x Rakuten Points on purchases on Rakuten Ichiba will be launched, followed by a point present campaign offering 3,000 Rakuten Points for applications for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII.
In the 6x Rakuten Points campaign, subscribers of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI and Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII who enter the campaign will receive an additional 1x points for purchases on Rakuten Ichiba. Subscribers who are Diamond members can receive a further 1x Rakuten Points*9.
In the point present campaign, customers who subscribe to Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII for the first time will receive 3,000 Rakuten Points*10.
For more details about Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII, please see the service page:
https://network.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/fee/un-limit/7/ (Japanese only)
Background
To continue to provide its subscribers with a highly convenient service, Rakuten Mobile will enhance its service plan with the introduction of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII. The current Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI service plan features a fee structure that flexibly adjusts with data use and has proved popular with customers. Rakuten Mobile is also expanding network coverage and has achieved 97% population coverage for its 4G network*11. With the expansion of its coverage, data usage on the Rakuten network is increasing and now accounts for over 90% of the total data usage on the network*12.
Rakuten Mobile will continue to enrich its service offering in order to offer subscribers a mobile service to be enjoyed without concern about data usage and offer greater value by leveraging the Rakuten Ecosystem across its many services.
*1 Unlimited high-speed data when connected to Rakuten base stations. To provide a fair service, restrictions on transmission speed may be implemented. Please check the coverage area.
*2 From July 1, 2022, the price for additional high-speed data (domestic roaming partner area) will be changed from 500 yen (550 yen inc. tax) to 600 yen (660 yen inc. tax).
*3 Excludes certain numbers. When not using the Rakuten Link app, domestic calls will be charged at 20 yen/30 seconds.
*4 New applications for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI will no longer be accepted from 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2022.
*5 The following benefits will be applied from the first day of use of the plan:
July to August 2022: Free monthly fees (Plan fee is 1,078 yen, in addition to Universal Service fee of two yen and Call Relay Service fee of one yen).
September 2022: 1,081 Rakuten Point present (Plan fee is 1,078 yen, in addition to Universal Service fee of two yen and Call Relay Service fee of one yen).
October 2022: 1,080 Rakuten Point present (Plan fee is 1,078 yen, in addition to Universal Service fee of two yen). The points issued include limited time points that expire in six months. Points will be issued two months after the month that data use has been confirmed to be under 1GB.
*6 For subscribers using multiple lines, the discounts will be applied to the first line to use the plan. If data usage exceeds 1GB per month, fees will be charged in line with the plan.
*7 Subscribers who have used the Unlimited 10-minute calls option before are not eligible. Customers who apply for the option for the first time on or after May 13, 2022 will be switched to the Unlimited 15-minute calls service from July 1, 2022, and will receive three months free of fees.
*8 Some subscribers may be ineligible for certain discounts.
*9 The closing date of the campaign is undecided. The maximum number of Rakuten Points awarded is 1,000 points. By combining the campaign with SPU (Super Point Up program) benefits, subscribers can receive up to a maximum of 6x Rakuten Points for purchases on Rakuten Ichiba. (Standard 1x points for shopping on Rakuten Ichiba, 1x points for using Rakuten Mobile, 2x points for using Rakuten Card.)
*10 For subscribers switching from another carrier or from the Rakuten Mobile MVNO service (Docomo or au lines). Existing subscribers of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI are not eligible. Conditions including the use of Rakuten Link apply.
*11 As of end of March 2022. Nighttime population coverage by outdoor base stations. Population coverage ratio is calculated based on the number of approximately 500m blocks used for national census which have 50% or more coverage. For the current service area, please check the service area map. In certain limited areas, as measures are still underway to close public service radio stations, only 5 MHz of bandwidth are available for the service. Once these closures are completed, 20 MHz of bandwidth will become available for service in these.
*12 As of April 25, 2022.
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/...mp;category=mobile
Ditching KDDI's roaming service should ultimately save Rakuten between JPY120 billion and JPY140 billion ($1.1 billion) annually, equal to about 30% of Rakuten Mobile's operating loss for 2021, according to figures previously provided by New Street Research. That is not the sole reason for optimism. The only big investment job still ahead of Rakuten involves sprinkling 5G basestations across Japan, according to Amin. Everything else is in place.
"What remains to be done is not as costly or expensive as what we have done before," he said. "We purposely didn't want to put any electronics at the site but have everything sitting at these far-edge data centers. From capital buildout, I don't see what really remains. SA [5G standalone] is already launched and my network capacity today supports 25 million customers, so I have huge uproom to grow. My fiber is built out, my DWDM [dense wave division multiplexing] is built out, my IP [Internet Protocol] is built out. The amount of investment that remains is no longer something that is substantial."
https://www.lightreading.com/5g/...-2023/d/d-id/777554?_mc=RSS_LR_EDT
Rakuten Mobile chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani expressed optimism costs had peaked in Q1, as it targeted discontinuation of roaming and converting remaining customers on free plans to paid users in the current quarter.
Mikitani explained with roaming on KDDI’s network dropping to 10 per cent of traffic from 30 per cent in Q1 2021, profitability is expected to start improving in the current quarter. He noted less than half of Rakuten Mobile’s customers joining on free plans were chargeable at end-2021.
MNO subscribers increased 2.1 million to 4.9 million. MVNO users fell from 1.5 million to 770,000. Average data usage per paying customers increased 40.8 per cent, though didn’t disclose the actual monthly volume.
Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin said its platform business is now in the delivery stage after booking contracts and expects to record a significant amount of revenue in 2022, with growth accelerating at the beginning of 2023.
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/asia/asia-news/...ility-as-costs-peak
Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile said it 4G network reached 97% of the country’s population as of the end of the first quarter of the year.
In its earnings statement, the telco said that the total number of outdoor 4G base stations surpassed 44,000 as of the end of April 2022, while indoor coverage has also expanded as the number of compact antennas for indoor use nationwide reached 40,000 units as of March 2022.
Rakuten Mobile also reported that the total number of subscriptions for the MNO and MVNO services surpassed 5.68 million as of the end of Q1 2022.
Rakuten Mobile CTO and head of Rakuten Symphony, Tareq Amin said in a conference call with investors that the company’s platform business is now in the delivery stage after booking contracts and expects to record a significant amount of revenue during this year, with growth expected to accelerate at the beginning of next year.
Rakuten Symphony has headquarters in Japan and local presence in the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region.
https://www.rcrwireless.com/20220513/5g/...japanese-population-end-q1
Ray Le Maistre May 13, 2022
Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile is growing in reach and customer numbers
As it adds mobile users, that has a direct impact on uptake of other services within the Rakuten Group
Now it’s doubling down on customer loyalty and satisfaction
This is driving the economic case for the 4G and 5G mobile investments, which are still enormous and still saddling Rakuten with big short-term losses
https://www.telecomtv.com/content/...gital-ecosystem-synergies-44451/
1 Nutzer wurde vom Verfasser von der Diskussion ausgeschlossen: Scansoft