Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket
April 18, 2025
Rakuten GORA launched a new AI golf swing analysis tool on the Rakuten Golf Score Management App. This tool was developed in cooperation with computer vision experts from Rakuten Institute of Technology (RIT), Keio University's Aoki Media Sensing Lab, and Rakuten India. It allows users to upload a video of their golf swing, which is then analyzed in nine phases from address to finish. In just a few minutes, the multiple AI models will work together to return a thorough analysis of 43 checkpoints and a provide comprehensive score, like a golf instructor that is available anytime, anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaVIHZvVViw
April 18, 2025
Rakuten GORA launched a new AI golf swing analysis tool on the Rakuten Golf Score Management App. This tool was developed in cooperation with computer vision experts from Rakuten Institute of Technology (RIT), Keio University's Aoki Media Sensing Lab, and Rakuten India. It allows users to upload a video of their golf swing, which is then analyzed in nine phases from address to finish. In just a few minutes, the multiple AI models will work together to return a thorough analysis of 43 checkpoints and a provide comprehensive score, like a golf instructor that is available anytime, anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaVIHZvVViw
20 hours ago
https://rakuten.today/blog/...mpowering-rakuten-ichiba-merchants.html
By Mark Holmes April 24, 2025
Japanese mobile network operator Rakuten Mobile and AST SpaceMobile completed what they claim is the first-ever broadband video call between unmodified smartphones in Japan using a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. This milestone comes ahead of Rakuten’s plans to launch the Saikyo Satellite Service powered by AST SpaceMobile next year. Rakuten Mobile announced the milestone, April 23.
Rakuten Mobile aims to expand connectivity across Japan – including mountainous regions, remote islands and in emergency situations. As part of the strategic partnership launched over five years ago, Rakuten Group and AST SpaceMobile aim to provide satellite-to-mobile broadband services (voice calls, video calls and more) in Japan starting in the fourth quarter of 2026.
https://www.satellitetoday.com/connectivity/2025/...tellite-in-japan/
Samsung made history in Japan, even though its name wasn't mentioned.
It's a historic week for Rakuten Mobile and, in a way, for Samsung's mobile division. On April 22, Rakuten, Japan's newest mobile network, made the country's first-ever broadband video call through a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connection. Incidentally, the satellite video call appears to have been made using unmodified Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
Although this is not a world-first satellite video call, it is a huge milestone for the Japanese mobile industry, the carrier, and the technology providers involved. The video call brings the Rakuten Saikyo Satellite Service one giant step closer to launch.
https://www.sammobile.com/news/...ly%2520300%2520kilometers%2520away.
Moderation
Zeitpunkt: 27.04.25 23:57
Aktion: Löschung des Beitrages
Kommentar: Moderation auf Wunsch des Verfassers
Zeitpunkt: 27.04.25 23:57
Aktion: Löschung des Beitrages
Kommentar: Moderation auf Wunsch des Verfassers
April 23, 2025
On April, 2025, Rakuten Mobile and AST SpaceMobile announced the successful completion of the first-ever broadband video call in Japan* between everyday unmodified smartphones using a low-Earth-orbit satellite. The video call marks a major step toward the realization of satellite-to-mobile connectivity across Japan – including mountainous regions, remote islands and in emergency situations such as areas affected by natural disasters. *Communication between mobile broadband networks transmitted from space and commercially available smartphones (AST SpaceMobile survey as of April 23, 2025)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttT8orA1ndc
The Global Open RAN Market size is expected to be worth around USD 79,379 Million By 2034, from USD 2,957 Million in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 38.9% during the forecast period from 2025 to 2034. North America dominated a 34.6% market share in 2024 and held USD 1,024.3 Million in revenue from the Open Ran Market.
The market for Open RAN is experiencing significant growth, propelled by its promise to reduce costs and increase system flexibility. With the backing of major telecom operators and the active involvement of a broad array of equipment vendors, the Open RAN ecosystem is rapidly expanding. This market evolution is driven by both technological advancements and strategic partnerships among key industry players, making Open RAN a viable alternative to traditional RAN solutions.
https://market.us/report/open-ran-market/
Apr. 25, 2025
Summary
My Buy rating for Rakuten Group is unchanged, as I think that investors' major concerns about the stock have eased.
RKUNF's credit health is expected to improve in the future; the company has targeted reducing its net leverage metric by half within the next 2 years.
RKUNY's wireless unit is anticipated to become EBITDA-positive in FY25 on the back of subscriber growth and ARPU expansion.
I am The Value Pendulum. I have over a decade of buy-side and sell-side experience in Asian equity markets. I lead the investing group Asia Value & Moat Stocks.
I remain bullish on Rakuten Group, Inc.
The company's loss-making MNO ("Mobile Network Operations") segment and its balance sheet weakness have become less of a concern. This is why my rating is still a Buy.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-risks-and-mobile-division-losses
March 18, 2025
Viber Dating is a new feature launched by Rakuten Viber around Valentine's Day 2025, designed to foster genuine connections while prioritizing user privacy and security. By ensuring profiles are verified and private, Viber Dating addresses common concerns about online dating, such as fake profiles and scams, offering a safe and comfortable platform for users to connect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj7xdKAuJG8&t=17s
Global cloud communications platform Infobip has become a Platinum Partner of Rakuten Viber. As a Platinum Partner, Infobip will be able to offer its customers early access to new products and features as well as getting priority access to a knowledge center. Infobip’s elevation to Platinum Partner marks another achievement in its ongoing mission to enhance digital communication strategies for businesses worldwide.
Over eight years, Rakuten Viber has integrated with Infobip’s platform, becoming a key OTT channel. The collaboration has enabled businesses to use Viber for direct, rich media interactions with customers, enhancing user experiences, and helping customers in their digital transformation journey.
One recent example is Metrobank, the second-largest private universal bank in the Philippines.
Metrobank partnered with Infobip to integrate Viber rich business messaging into its customer communication strategy, enhancing its operations with a trusted and secure digital platform. Utilizing Infobip’s plug-and-play solution, Metrobank seamlessly incorporated Viber business messages into its existing processes with minimal effort. In no time, the bank began delivering personalized, rich content messages, including images and videos, to millions of consenting customers. This strategic move not only created a unique customer experience but also resulted in up to 50% cost savings compared to traditional SMS messaging, as Metrobank effectively communicated its latest offerings through Viber’s rich media capabilities.
Ramon Martin Rodriguez, Performance Marketing Head at Metrobank, said: “Infobip provided a solution that enabled us to quickly start benefitting from using Viber for Business for sending marketing messages, using both a portal and an integration with our CRM system. The integration was extremely easy to set up with no disruption to our businesses processes, and no requirement to involve technical resources from other departments. We have been very satisfied with the entire process.”
https://bi-journal.com/platinum-partner-of-rakuten-viber/
April 02, 2025
As enterprises increasingly look for ways to improve efficiency and innovation, network modernization has become a key driver of transformation. Modernizing networks is not just about upgrading to the next generation of technology but about unlocking new opportunities through automation, microservices-based architectures and AI-driven decision-making. Industry leaders recently came together to discuss the role of network modernization in private enterprises, exploring how it enables greater operational efficiency and supports advanced use cases, in a panel moderated by Abe Nejad, Publisher of Network Media Group (NMG).
Speakers: Faisal Ghazaleh - Global Head of Solution Engineering-OSS, Rakuten Symphony
Ron Westfall - Research Director, Futurum Group
Rory O’ Toole - Vice President - Global Telco Sales, Druid Software
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPtFAc3ABu8
RGI's MNO segment is still in the red, and this hurts the stock in two ways. One is that its leverage stays elevated due to a high level of borrowings and operating losses. Another factor is this division's drag on the company's group-level profit.
The wireless business' EBITDA loss shrunk from -JPY 0.15 trillion for FY23 to -¥54B in FY24. My prediction is that this unit will realize EBITDA-breakeven this year in line with management guidance.
The future profitability of RKUNY's mobile operations is heavily influenced by its topline due to fixed-cost leverage effects.
Given the capital-intensive nature of telco services, RKUNF needs to spread its non-variable expenses over a bigger revenue base. I'm optimistic that it can acquire new wireless users and earn more money from them on a per-user basis.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-risks-and-mobile-division-losses
April 08, 2025
In this session at the Rakuten Booth in MWC Barcelona 2025, Luca Milillo, Vice President of Rakuten Link, provides a detailed look into Rakuten Link: The Super IntelliApp, and how this innovative platform showcases the combination of cutting-edge AI capabilities with the power of the Rakuten Ecosystem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaG9Q9VMCIA
The company's finance expenses, capital expenditures, and wireless operations' EBITDA losses added up to -¥0.36T in the recent fiscal year. Rakuten generated +JPY 424 billion of cash flow from its non-mobile ("securities brokerage and e-commerce") divisions and capital efficiency improvements during the same period. Rakuten can operate on internally generated funds now based on these figures.
It's reasonable to think that the company shouldn't incur additional debt going forward.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-risks-and-mobile-division-losses
April 02, 2025
As telecom networks become more complex, the integration of rApps (radio applications) and SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) is transforming how operators manage and optimize their networks. Watch as industry leaders join Abe Nejad, Publisher of Network Media Group (NMG), to discuss how AI and real-time data are shaping the future of network automation.
Speakers:
Dr. Tomasz Gerszberg - Group Head of Future Networks, Axiata
Rahul Atri - Chief Product Officer, Aira Technologies
Anshul Bhatt - Chief Product Officer, OSS Business Unit, Rakuten Symphony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvoRSyvneY0
In the final quarter of the prior year, Rakuten recorded net mobile subscription additions of +378k. For the same time frame, the "net adds" for SoftBank and KDDI inferior at approximately 190,000 and 6,000, respectively. Another competitor Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation even lost subscribers ("-11k") in this period.
My opinion is that RKUNY's outperformance will be sustained because of a policy tailwind.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-risks-and-mobile-division-losses
https://www.google.de/...4zoAexkgKyBwQzMS4zuAeoFQ&sclient=gws-wiz
March 09, 2025
In the eighteenth episode of ABS-CBN News Channel's Beyond the Exchange, award-winning journalist and veteran anchor Rico Hizon sits down with Rakuten Viber CEO Ofir Eyal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSiS72AXtM&t=18s
Rakuten plans to invest "at least three digit millions dollars" to scale up technology, infrastructure and hiring, Rakuten's India CEO Sunil Gopinath said, without specifying the exact amount.
Rakuten currently employs 4,000 people in India - 90% of whom are tech staff - and plans to recruit people who it considers "power users" of AI.
"We look for AI-savvy people that we can intersperse across the company," Gopinath said.
The India global capability centre (GCC) is a key contributor in building Rakuten Pay, a major payment app in Japan, and its SixthSense platform, which is used to track the health of a system and flag issues.
The SixthSense platform is used by a wide range of clients including banks, healthcare companies, airlines, and the government of India.
Rakuten generated a profit of 10.5 billion yen ($73.62 million) in fiscal year 2024 by using AI, and aims to double this in 2025. Last year, employees almost halved their time to create sales material, according to its full-year earnings presentation.
Rakuten's India GCC operates about 50% of the company's 70-plus businesses, with offices at multiple locations in the country, including two centers in the southern city of Bengaluru.
The market size of India's GCCs is expected to be valued at up to $105 billion by fiscal year 2030 from $64.6 billion in 2024, according to a report by IT industry body Nasscom and consulting firm Zinnov.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...ten-invest-least-100-070917892.html
6 days ago
The Diversity Talk Session was spearheaded by Taiki Nagamatsu, Vice General Manager of the Global Country Management Department and Manager of Diversity Development Group at Rakuten, who has been instrumental in driving diversity initiatives within Rakuten Travel. “We prioritize both employee and service inclusion by raising diversity awareness among our staff and partner hotels,” Nagamatsu explained. “This brings us back to the core value of Rakuten Travel: ‘Empowering travel through innovation and diversity.’ Our principal value is diversity – we will continue to create an environment where everybody, regardless of religion, nationality, language or disability, can enjoy traveling around the world.”
https://rakuten.today/blog/...rence-inspires-greater-inclusivity.html
Apr 30, 2025, 10:00 AM
Rakuten Securities, Inc., a subsidiary of Rakuten Group, reported its financial results for the first quarter of 2025, showing a rise in operating revenue and income compared to the previous year. This financial performance indicates a positive trajectory for the company, potentially strengthening its position in the securities market and providing value to its stakeholders.
https://www.tipranks.com/news/...s-positive-q1-2025-financial-results
April 02, 2025
Open RAN (O-RAN) and automation are emerging as solutions to increase flexibility, lower costs and expand network coverage faster in Africa. At a recent panel discussion, industry leaders explored how O-RAN and automation are shaping the African telecom landscape. Moderated by Abe Nejad, Publisher of Network Media Group (NMG), the session featured experts from Accenture and Rakuten Symphony, discussing the key drivers behind O-RAN adoption, integration challenges, and the role of AI-driven automation.
Speakers:
Nitesh Singh - MD and Communications, Media and Technology Lead, Accenture
Faiq Khan - SVP, Global Sales OSS BU, Rakuten Symphony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKF3nMA-5Jg
2025/04/25
https://www.rakuten-card.co.jp/corporate/press_release/20250425/