Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Japan: the next opportunity

June 2024

Thomas Patchett, Japanese Equity Specialist
Donald Farquharson, Head of Japanese Equities

From paper to platforms: a domestic digitalisation story

Whether it's due to the limited supply of labour, rising wages, or the need for productivity gains and scale advantages, Japan is slowly but surely shifting online.

Having lagged other developed markets across most areas of digitalisation, such as ecommerce, cashless payments, software-as-a-service, and general enterprise IT investment, Japan has now recognised the critical need to develop these labour-saving solutions. This shift opens up significant long-term growth opportunities. Although this opportunity is still in its infancy – and is therefore far less prominent than in other developed markets – it is often accessible at little to no premium to the broader market.

Rakuten's ecosystem of services

Rakuten is home to Japan’s largest points-based ecosystem with over 100 million users accessing upwards of 70 online services (from hotel bookings to brokerage and banking). Despite consistently growing its top line for 27 years since inception, the company trades at a mere 0.6x sales, which is half that of the market average, because of the capital-intensive decision it made to develop its mobile phone network. Although this new venture required significant outlay, an accelerating pick-up in paying subscribers could soon see the network become profitable by year-end. As a standalone, we believe it could double the enterprise value of the group. Beyond that, we think it has the potential to add value to the entire ecosystem. By adding another customer touchpoint, it is improving its access to data and raising the potential to cross-sell more of its services.

https://www.bailliegifford.com/en/ireland/...xt-opportunity-10048027/
 

 

Since migrating to Rakuten Advertising and its fully affiliate managed service – our programme has gone from strength to strength. Rakuten Advertising’s strategies have helped grow the programme and we have been able to really move the dial. Our account management team have felt like a true extension of our team and have led to the affiliate channel becoming our strongest growing channel!

Simon Porter
Digital Marketing Manager, Ann Summers

https://rakutenadvertising.com/en-uk/affiliate/
 

On its Q1 earnings call, Mikitani claimed “smooth progress” in turning around the group’s loss-making mobile unit, noting profitability is just around the corner, with a target of EBITDA turning positive by December 2024.

He noted it is now in the third phase of its launch, which is telling customers about its improved network quality. It is working to a target of 10 million subscribers by end-2025.

Symphony revenue jumped 55.3 per cent in Q1/2024 to $118 million.

https://www.mobileworldlive.com/rakuten/...ils-network-quality-gains/
 

Rakuten Mobile, Cisco Complete SRv6 uSID IP Transport Network Migrations

1 month ago
Ray Sharma

Rakuten Mobile and Cisco announced a major milestone for network infrastructure in support of efforts to build a better, more inclusive internet for the future.

The two companies have collaborated to successfully complete one of the world's largest Segment Routing over IPv6 Micro Segment ID (SRv6 uSID) IP transport network migrations, unlocking a new era of unprecedented speed, agility and on-demand services*2 for Japanese businesses nationwide.

Rakuten Mobile has already adopted SRv6 in its IP transport network, which connects base stations to its core network. In traditional networks adopting IPv6, the standard for IP addresses, priority is given to packet processing via the shortest possible route. SRv6 assigns Segment IDs to packets, enabling scalability for networks and other functions. By adopting uSID, Rakuten Mobile now has access to more refined and efficient methods of packet processing.

Utilizing a robust foundation built on SRv6 uSID-based IP transport networks, Rakuten Mobile launched its ultra-high-speed internet connection service 'KOSOKU Access' in January 2024 as a fixed network service for enterprise customers. This enables customers to access fast, low-latency on-demand services in a secure and reliable business infrastructure with a 24/7 network maintenance system. This enables KOSOKU Access customers across Japan to effectively scale their connectivity usage depending on their evolving business demands.

https://www.thefastmode.com/technology-solutions/...etwork-migrations
 

Revenues of Rakuten Symphony was $ 203 million in first half of 2024

Symphony revenue jumped 55.3 per cent in Q1/2024 to $118 million.
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/rakuten/...ils-network-quality-gains/

Rakuten Symphony sales dropped 18 per cent to $85 billion in Q2/2024.
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/rakuten/...criber-growth-accelerates/
 

Market-share of Rakuten Symphony is more than 20%

The $ 203 million revenue of Rakuten Symphony in the first half of 2024 are $ 406 million on a yearly base in 2024 (and Q4 was the strongest quarter of Rakuten Symphony in the past).

If you take a look at the market volume from Juniper Research of $ 2 billion, the market-cap of Rakuten Symphony is more than 20%.

“Juniper Research release a press release to promote its new Global Operator O-RAN Strategies, 2024-2029 report. The headline data point is that ‘annual operator investment into O-RAN (Open Radio Access Networks) will reach $11 billion in 2029; rising from $2 billion in 2024.’ So that’s 5.5x growth over five years at a CAGR of over 40%.”

https://www.telecoms.com/open-ran/...ng-will-increase-over-5x-by-2029
 

Rakuten Viber can help brands maximize the upcoming shopping festivals - LionhearTV

https://www.lionheartv.net/2024/09/...he-upcoming-shopping-festivals/
 

How Does Rakuten Make Money? Dissecting Its Business Model (2024)

by Viktor Hendelmann

https://productmint.com/how-does-rakuten-make-money/
 

9 hours ago

In the world of AI, 12 months is an eternity – so much was clear from the exciting new tech on display at the recent 2024 Rakuten Optimism conference.

One panel discussion titled AI Accelerates Innovation: The New Frontier of Creativity kicked off with a video introduction from two hyper-real AI avatars, who gave the Optimism audience an effortless welcome in 10 different languages.

The avatars then relinquished the stage to their flesh-and-blood counterparts – Rakuten Group Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Naho Kono and Samurai Inc. Creative Director Kashiwa Sato, the creative director and graphic designer behind many iconic Japanese brands such as Seven-Eleven, Uniqlo and Rakuten.

The session served as a follow-up to a discussion from Rakuten Optimism 2023, when Kono and Sato were joined by Kyoto University physicist Professor Koji Hashimoto to discuss the potential of AI tools. This year, Kono and Sato welcomed Professor Jun Suzuki, director of the Center for Language AI Research at Tohoku University.

From potential to reality

“It’s been barely two years since generative AI really started taking off,” Suzuki told the panel. “We can do so much more now. And I think you can all imagine that it will continue to improve drastically.”
The previous year’s discussion saw the panelists marvel at the text generation capabilities of AI, revealing that they had used a large language model to come up with the title of the conference session.

This year, Kono took the opportunity to show off a range of areas in which Rakuten has already begun effectively applying AI tools for business. These included advertising campaigns for Rakuten Beauty and Rakuten Fashion Week, an AI character to promote Rakuten Card, and a simplified ID verification process for Rakuten Mobile.

“This time last year, we were talking about potential applications. Now we’re actually here, applying AI,” Sato commented. “In this case, it’s not that the output has changed drastically, but rather the tools. So it doesn’t look like anything has changed from the customer’s perspective. But going forward, as the tools change, so will the output and ideas. I’m looking forward to that future.”

Suzuki researches artificial intelligence, natural language processing, machine learning and how computers are able to gain understanding of human language. He expressed a belief that in the near future AI will impress us even further.

“In the future, AI could become more interactive. We could make things in a dynamic way,” he predicted. “When you generate things in advance like we’re doing now, you have the chance to fix them up. But if you have to make it on the fly, you’ve just got that one chance. So we’re not quite there yet. In the future, I think we will be able to do this.”

Can we trust AI?

“What surprises me the most is that we know if we input something into an AI, we get a certain output,” Sato remarked. “But when it comes to the operating principles of how it gets to that answer, we don’t yet have a good understanding.”

“Even as we’re able to do dramatically more with AI, it’s becoming clear that there are a lot of potential problems,” Suzuki agreed. “One of those problems is that the generative AI we use now is often described as a black box. Even if we know that a certain action causes a certain result, we still don’t know very well what kind of logic it’s following. And as long as we don’t understand that, we won’t really be able to take full advantage of AI.”

Much of Suzuki’s research focuses on how well AI aligns with human sensibilities, looking at metrics such as whether AI chooses the same words to describe certain things.

“In actual fact, AI isn’t processing these things in the same way as a human. Of course, what’s happening in a computer is different from what’s happening in a human brain, so there’s a difference there, even if we’re seeing similar things come out.”

Suzuki says that even the biggest models aren’t quite there yet, but the path forward is clear.

“When there is a difference between how humans and AI feel about something, we aren’t able to fully trust our use of AI,” he added. “Only by making AI that aligns as much as possible with human sensibilities will the world be able to use it to its full potential.”

Staying optimistic in the AI age

In a world flooded with AI-generated content, what will become of human creators?

“Young creators and students often ask me what they should do going forward,” Sato told the panel. “It’s not a question of skill, but of morals, of philosophy – what does it mean to be human? It’s important that we face this question head-on.”

The flipside of this, Suzuki highlighted, is that AI tools can empower regular people to become creative.
“People who weren’t necessarily creators are now able to ‘make’ things,” he noted. “Now that the playing field has been leveled somewhat, you should be thinking about how to infuse your own personality into your creations to add a unique flavor.”

Sato concluded the session on an optimistic note.

“I’m mainly excited about AI. I want to see new things. I want to make new things. How we make things is going to keep changing – we could see creations that humankind has never seen before. And that’s something I want to witness,” Sato concluded. “If we do this session again, I’ll be excited to see what awaits us in the future.”

https://rakuten.today/blog/creativity-and-humanity-in-the-ai-age.html
 

after my estimates in the next days.  

Rank 2 for Viber in Ukraine
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Rank 6 for Viber in Algeria
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Rank 2 for Viber in Armenia
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Rank 3 for Viber in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Rank 2 for Viber in Bulgaria
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Rank 3 for Viber in Greece
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Rank 4 for Viber in Croatia
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Rank 4 for Viber in Lithuania
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Rank 3 for Viber in Macedonia
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Rank 2 for Viber in Moldavia
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Rank 10 for Viber in Nepal
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Rank 5 for Viber in Philippines
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Rank 5 for Viber in Russia
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Rank 3 for Viber in Serbia
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Rank 7 for Viber in Slovakia
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Rank 3 for Viber in Slovenia
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Rank 10 for Viber in Czech Republic

https://www.similarweb.com/de/top-apps/google/...ublic/communication/
Rank 4 for Viber in Hungary

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Rank 9 for Viber in Vietnam

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Rank 2 for Viber In Belarus

https://www.similarweb.com/de/top-apps/google/belarus/communication/
 

Rakuten Viber launches Delete Without a Trace feature for premium users

The new offering allows Viber Plus users to quickly and quietly undo their digital chat print.

By Team Orange September 1, 2024

Rakuten Viber, a global leader in private and secure messaging and calls, announces Delete Without a Trace, a highly anticipated feature allowing Viber Plus premium users to inconspicuously unsend their messages — regardless of whether recipients have already read them.

“Viber Plus is our commitment to providing users with a user experience that’s not just functional, but also fun and secure,” says Ofir Eyal, CEO of Rakuten Viber. “We will continue to incorporate user feedback to build out fan-favorite features — as we have with Invisible Mode — to maintain customer satisfaction and easy chatting.”

Since January of this year, Rakuten Viber has noted a 170% increase in Viber Plus subscribers. Its exclusive features and content are available in 100 countries to Viber’s millions of users.

https://orangemagazine.ph/2024/...-a-trace-feature-for-premium-users/
 

By arminderkaur192 6th September 2024

Rakuten Mobile’s 5G network is notable for its innovative approach, leveraging a fully virtualized, cloud-native architecture. Here’s a detailed technical breakdown:

https://telcomatraining.com/what-is-rakuten-5g-network/
 

The mobile network experience around the Japanese expressways and highways

September 11, 2024 by Robert Wyrzykowski

In this new analysis, we examine our smartphone users’ mobile experience on Japan’s expressways and highways, across all of the four Japanese operators. This analysis is a follow-up to our earlier insights on the quality of mobile experience around Japan’s major transportation areas, e.g. the Yamanote line, the Tokaido Shinkansen line, and the Japanese airports.

Rakuten Mobile comes first for Upload Speed Experience and 5G Upload Speed.

https://www.opensignal.com/2024/09/11/...ese-expressways-and-highways