Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

By Keith Dyer 26 October 2022

Ditches Red Hat as it takes up with new Linux OS distribution for real time radio processing at the edge.

Rakuten Mobile is ditching Red Hat as the provider of its Linux based OS for the edge cloud that supports its mobile network, and instead is deploying Rocky Linux OS, from open source distributor CIQ.

Tareq Amin, CEO of Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, says that the decision will cut the cost of that part of his network by 80%, and give him a real time kernel to support his edge-based DU deployments. Rakuten Symphony will also deploy the technology as part of its stack, which it offers to other operator customers, and Amin also wants to spread the distribution through the Rakuten Group.

https://the-mobile-network.com/2022/10/...wn-rocky-road-for-linux-os/  

Nishitetsu Store und Rakuten vereinbaren die Einführung von Rakuten Point Card und Rakuten Edy E-Geld

Ab etwa Herbst 2022 wird es nacheinander in 91 Geschäften wie "Nishitsu Store" und "Spina" erhältlich sein.

https://payment.rakuten.co.jp/news/2022011400/
 

Real-time Rocky Linux OS is Validated on the Rakuten Mobile Network in Japan

October 26, 2022 News, Partnerships by the CIQ Team

We are thrilled to announce that Rakuten Symphony, Inc., and CIQ are supporting open source Rocky Linux to deliver a real-time high-performance operating system for Distributed Unit (DU) radio processing software.

Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms, and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven, modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security.

In modern telecom networks, DU deployment results in a large number of sites that today require individual operating system licenses and support. This does not economically scale. In addition, the high-performance requirements demanded by the radio processing workloads for 5G and Open RAN mean generic operating system solutions are not applicable. This is true for any latency-sensitive workloads running at the edge in any industry.

Since Rocky, like its predecessor CentOS, is 100% RHEL compatible, it’s a perfect fit for 5G deployments. Open source software and communities driving open development are critical for the success of the architectures 5G operators rely on, like Open RAN. The industry needs an open, real-time Linux operating system, and Rocky Linux has filled that vacuum.

That’s why Rakuten Symphony chose Rocky Linux. Rocky Linux is proven ready for the Rakuten Mobile network in Japan and is available as part of Rakuten Symphony deliverables to its customers. In addition, Rocky Linux is foundational in the planned deployment of 30,000 units of Symware in Rakuten Mobile and contributes to the projected 50% cost savings. Rakuten Symphony will establish a dedicated team within its cloud business unit focused on Rocky Linux distribution and is also working closely with a broad spectrum of third-party vendors and technology partners within the telecom industry to make Rocky Linux the standard operating system for running large networks.

https://ciq.co/...s-validated-on-the-rakuten-mobile-network-in-japan/  

Open and Virtual RAN is the fastest-growing segment of the overall RAN market over the next five years

According to Omdia, the market for Open and Virtual RAN (“Open vRAN”) technology - including systems implementing O-RAN ALLIANCE architectures and standards - is the fastest-growing segment of the overall RAN market over the next five years. Growth projections in the market have skyrocketed, with Omdia’s year-over-year projections for Open vRAN revenue over the next four years increasing 65%. Omdia also projects that by 2026, Open vRAN systems will represent 16% of the overall RAN market, a 128% increase representing $23.5 billion of spending over the next five years.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/...and-Use-Cases.html  

Sun Drug Group working together with Rakuten Edy/Rakuten Payment

https://payment.rakuten.co.jp/news/2022081500/
 

By Ray Le Maistre

Sep 27, 2022

Rakuten Symphony didn’t exist until about 14 months ago. Though its foundations had been building for a few months before that, the pace at which Symphony has grown, developed and influenced the market, as well as landing a multibillion-dollar deal in Germany to build and run the greenfield network of newcomer 1&1, is almost unprecedented. And Amin is hungry for more.

He believes that doubts about the viability of Open RAN will start to fade away as soon as the industry has a “enough cases in which the TCO [total cost of ownership] is validated, then I think people will stop talking about this”, he said. “Four years ago, I was criticised that I will never succeed in Japan – every day was negative news. But for me, it was nonsense. I understood that, technology wise, this is not a complicated science. We just need to put a bit of effort to uplift the radio workload and move it into high-performance commodity appliances… I just think that the knowledge needs to improve a bit in our industry to appreciate the possibility of such an architecture. A few cases will happen this year that I think might actually trigger people to think, well, this is imminent. I have no doubt this will succeed,” he added confidently.

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/open-ran/...ic-dice-in-vegas-45507/  

RAKUTEN’S DOMESTIC STRENGTH WILL HOLD IT STEADY AS JAPAN REOPENS

26/10/2022, by Yeoh Siew Hoon

Rakuten Travel strengthened its hold in the domestic market through the pandemic, increasing its share of domestic travel nights per month from around 15-16% to 20% in 2022, and that consolidation should hold it in good stead even as Japan reopens and global OTAs begin their march back into the market.

Speaking at WiT Singapore 2022, Yoshiyuki Takano, Head of Travel & Mobility Business, of Rakuten Group, said that the key to compete is in securing good inventory and during the pandemic, Japanese OTAs such as Rakuten not only expanded market share but tightened relationships with hotels. “Therefore, our power to secure inventory has increased.”

The shift to online has also been phenomenal. “In fact, Japan was not that advanced a country in terms of internet service. Online share of all consumption was seven percent before the pandemic in Japan, which is very low compared with US/Europe. However, the pandemic accelerated the online shift.

“In Rakuten, e-commerce sites and fin-tech services have performed very well after the pandemic. As for the e-commerce site, its transaction volume became 1.5 times bigger than pre-Covid.”

And this plays to Rakuten Travel’s advantage, being part of the e-commerce giant. He said that Rakuten Group’s MAU has grown to 40 million and the fact that it offers 70 services makes it diversified and resilient.

Another big shift is to cashless. “Before the pandemic, Japan was not advanced in cashless transactions, but the pandemic has accelerated contactless payment methods, and QR code payments are increasing. QR payments such as Rakuten Pay, Paypay, LINEpay, and Melpay are available everywhere.”

https://www.webintravel.com/...2%2C%2520by%2520Yeoh%2520Siew%2520Hoon  

Our Senior Sales Director in CEE & CIS, Konstantin Kostadinov, was a speaker at the #Digital2022 conference in Belgrade, Serbia. He opened his presentation by outlining the industry landscape and the latest global and local trends, then spoke about key Viber figures in Serbia, and concluded with four success stories highlighting Viber for Business solutions and their practical applications.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b2D41uazZU  

Mariia Martyrosian
Global PR and Marketing Communications Lead at Rakuten Viber
October 20, 2022

Why do brands choose Viber?

A global leader in messaging communication, Viber has an active, payable audience around the world and in Croatia. It offers all business solutions a brand needs for each step of the customer journey: branded Stickers and Lenses, Viber Ads, Business Messages, and Chatbots—everything to help brands build awareness, influence consideration, drive conversion, and nurture loyalty.

As Noa Bar Shay, Senior Partnerships Account Director at Rakuten Viber, emphasized in her presentation, 89% of businesses today compete primarily on the basis of customer experience. Viber designs its Messaging solutions with the goal to make these experiences better for its users and the brands’ customers.

Businesses can send personalized offers through promotional Viber business messages to encourage purchases, increase sales, nurture brand loyalty, and cut costs because Viber business messages are cheaper than SMS or any other messaging app. In turn, customers get relevant offers, timely suggestions, useful information, and easy-to-redeem discounts.

Brands can also keep their clients updated about the status of their order, new bank transactions, or delivery schedules—all thanks to transactional business messages, delivered conveniently through the customers’ favorite app. And tapping into the trend on real conversations, brands can establish a dialogue with their audience. Conversational messages help increase conversions, provide around-sales customer support, build loyalty, get customer feedback, and much more.

With Viber Chatbots, brands can now provide their customers with efficient customer service that’s available 24/7, offer opportunities to shop and pay for items right within the app, and provide immediate responses to customer queries—which is a perk that 82% of consumers expect today.
Based on the data collected from January to September 2022 versus the same period in 2021, Viber noted tremendous growth in Croatia: a 168% increase in its conversational business messages, 131% in transactional messages, and 40%—in promotional, all of which clearly shows the growing popularity of business messages.

https://www.forbusiness.viber.com/en/blog/post/...saging-starts-here/

 

Anzahl der Unique User IDs bei Viber bis Juni 2022

Veröffentlicht von L. Rabe, 16.08.2022

Diese Statistik zeigt die Anzahl Unique IDs bei Viber in ausgewählten Monaten zwischen März 2015 und Juni 2022. Im Juni 2022 lag die Anzahl der Unique IDs des Chat-Dienstes für Smartphones und Desktop-PCs, mit dem auch telefoniert werden kann, bei rund 1,38 Milliarden.

https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/...tzer-ids-bei-viber/  

Rakuten Payment, Inc. Rakuten Payment and Kentucky Agree to Introduce “Rakuten Point Card”

OCTOBER 6, 2022 REHOW

Through this partnership, the “Rakuten Point Card” will be available at approximately 1,180 of all Kentucky Fried Chicken (hereafter, “KFC”) stores from around spring 2023.

By introducing the “Rakuten Point Card” in addition to the common point service “Ponta” currently available at KFC, users will be able to select the common point service to accumulate.

Through a tie-up with the Rakuten Point Card, users can earn Rakuten Points according to the amount spent by presenting a Rakuten Point Card or an app equipped with the Rakuten Point Card function at participating stores. You can also use the accumulated points at the time of payment.

In addition, if you present your Rakuten Point Card, charge the online electronic money “Rakuten Cash” with the “Rakuten Card”, and then pay with the smartphone payment service “Rakuten Pay (app payment)”, you will receive a total of 2.0% at any time. You can receive the return of “Rakuten Points”.

In addition, users can accumulate “Rakuten Points” by linking their “Rakuten Point Card” with the “Kentucky Fried Chicken Official Mobile App” (hereafter, “KFC Official App”) and presenting their membership card from the app.

KFC Japan introduced “Rakuten Pay (app payment)” in April 2020 and has deepened its cooperation with the Rakuten Group. With the introduction of the Rakuten Point Card, we will further strengthen our data marketing and sales promotion measures. Going forward, we will continue to deepen our collaboration with the Rakuten Group, which has a strong customer base of over 100 million Rakuten members, and expand the overall user base, including users in their 30s and 40s, who are the main demographic of Rakuten members. We aim to improve the service to our users.

https://re-how.net/2022/10/...-agree-to-introduce-rakuten-point-card/



 

SUSAN SWIER

September 1, 2022

If Viber is popular with your customers, you've probably been wondering how to use Viber for business. Do you want to know how to get a Viber business account and how Viber business pricing works? What’s the difference between Viber Business Messages and Viber Chatbots? This guide will answer these questions and explain the best ways to use Viber for business.

With over a billion users worldwide, Viber ranks among the top five messaging apps, mainly concentrated in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

To get a better look at Viber’s popularity, let’s take a look at Monthly Active Users (MAUs). As of 2021, Viber reported 820 million active users, a huge growth over the 260 million it reported two years earlier.

During the pandemic, user numbers grew rapidly as people turned to online groups to socialize and share information. Viber pushed this growth with initiatives like Covid-19 chatbots and e-commerce support. App usage remains strong in its key markets.

https://respond.io/blog/viber-for-business  

Essential Viber Statistics And Facts For Marketers To Boost Up Their Businesses

Barry Elad

Updated · Aug 04, 2022

https://www.enterpriseappstoday.com/stats/viber-statistics.html  

Additional to my last posting about Rakuten Viber

I can't understand, why in discussions about the valuation and ratings of Rakuten, the value of Viber
- with after my estimates value between $ 2 billions and $ 4 billions or more - is never part of the discussions.  

Top 6 WhatsApp Alternatives You Should Consider Using

RAHUL PANDEY FEB 1, 2022

Viber is a free instant messaging app that supports sending texts, sharing photos, and making cross-border phone calls. It facilitates easy and direct interaction between family, friends, colleagues, and more through its user-friendly interface and attractive design.

According to C|NET, Viber is the most comprehensive messaging app in the world due to its seamless compatibility with different mobile operating systems, as well as a plethora of features. Today, the Viber app works with Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry OS systems among others.

Other than making online calls, Viber users can make international calls using their actual numbers so long as they both have the Viber app installed. The app also allows its users to add locations to their communications, share audio clips, emoticons, stickers, and other fun features of modern communication.

As of 2021, Viber reported more than 1.1 billion users from over 190 countries around the world. Of this, Viber served more than 820 million active monthly users, with each averaging approximately 30 messages per day.

Viber Pros

No user registration needed

Unlimited free texts, voice, and video calls to other Viber users

Supports group text messages

Cheaper off-platform calls than its peers

Viber Cons

Restricts peer-to-peer file-sharing

Hard to access newer versions on some mobile devices

Tough to recover old data after reinstalling Viber

https://turbofuture.com/cell-phones/...ives-You-Should-Consider-Using  

Viber Advertising: The Creative Way to Grow Your Audience

Recently, we shared with you 4 Effective Ways How to Use Viber for Business. However, what can you do if you are only in the process of developing your customer database? And maybe you want to combine Viber Business Messaging with the opportunity to grow your subscribers list and develop your brand creativity?

If so, keep reading! Viber made a solution to increase the number of your subscribers, your brand visibility, and CTR in an original and fun way.

https://nth.bg/en/...ertising-the-creative-way-to-grow-your-audience/  

Multi-mobility platform Cabify to invest $300M in LatAm within the next 2 years

Alejandra Cruz García October 13, 2022

“Latin American countries have a higher growth potential for our business and that is where we are going to invest the most. In the next two years we want to invest close to $300 million, strengthening markets such as Mexico and Ecuador,” said Gutiérrez. “The technology industry is at a time when raising capital is complicated and they (investors) are looking for profitable companies. We have been working on this, we are about 40% larger than we were before the pandemic. We have a positive Ebitda in the region, which makes us an attractive company”.

https://latamlist.com/cabify-to-invest-300m-in-latam/  

Jonathan Keane

Freelance technology journalist covering the gig economy.

Oct 13, 2022,07:54am EDT

The Madrid-headquartered company, which does most of its business in Latin America, has been expanding its lines of business in parcel deliveries and logistics in recent years, particularly since the pandemic.

According to the company it has 5,000 clients globally across its markets and has inked several deals with larger retailers like Mercado Libre as well as restaurants and is integrating with Shopify for sellers on that platform.

"Cabify is a consolidated brand in the multi-mobility market with more than 10 years of presence in Europe and Latin America. That strength has allowed us to exceed 500,000 deliveries within eight months of launching the service in 2020, five times faster than the time it took us in our beginnings to make the first 500,000 trips."

"We are betting heavily on Cabify Logistics and will invest in strengthening our technology and team. This line of business started with five people, and to date, there are already more than 50 of us, in addition to Cabify's central resources," Pascual added.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathankeane/2022/...t/?sh=6ec9034674ba  

Rakuten Payment Co., Ltd. “Rakuten Point Card” and “Famima App Big Lottery! Win up to 77,777 Points!”

OCTOBER 31, 2022 REHOW

“Rakuten Point Card” and “Famima App Lottery! Win up to 77,777 Points!” Campaign
Rakuten Payment Co., Ltd. (hereafter, “Rakuten Payment”) and FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (hereafter, “FamilyMart”) jointly run a “Famima App Big Lottery!” Win up to 77,777 points on the common point service “Rakuten Point Card” operated by Rakuten Payment Co., Ltd. !” Campaign will be held from November 1, 2022 (Tuesday) to November 30, 2022 (Wednesday).

In this campaign, after entering from the campaign page, presenting the Famima app “Famipay” linked to the “Rakuten Point Card” during the campaign period, and paying a total of 600 yen (tax included) or more, a maximum of 77,777 points will be drawn by lottery. will be presented. Furthermore, if you link your “Rakuten Point Card” to “Famipay” and present it for the first time during the campaign period, you will have a 5x chance of winning.

https://re-how.net/2022/10/...app-big-lottery-win-up-to-77777-points/  

10 best shopping apps for Black Friday deals 2022

By Palak Sharma

October 29, 2022

Rakuten has scored the most in 2021 Black Friday Deals savings. Users can avail of sales shopping both online as well as store. Newly rebranded rebates are available just with an app and a browser extension. The company offers abundant cash-back deals and allows you to win through promo codes.

https://www.techthirsty.com/...ping-apps-for-black-friday-deals-2022/
 

Rakuten Symphony and CIQ Bring Back Open Source and Open Community with Rocky Linux: An Industry Explainer

By Partha Seetala

President, Cloud Business Unit Rakuten Symphony

October 26, 2022

https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...-open-community-with-rocky-linux  

Rakuten Mobile is very selective in its choice of partners

Movandi ties up with Rakuten Mobile to expand 5G Millimeter Wave Network Coverage

By CRN Team

October 31, 2022

Movandi, a leader in new 5G RF and millimeter-wave (mmWave) technologies and software, announced that it is collaborating with Rakuten Mobile to expand 5G outdoor and indoor mmWave network coverage and capacity in Japan by using Movandi’s smart repeater and BeamXR Open-RAN technology, This will extend to India and Asia soon.

Movandi’s proprietary mmWave RF chipsets, phased-array antenna, and software technology will allow Rakuten Mobile’s 5G mmWave signals to provide coverage beyond the reach of other mmWave approaches while potentially reducing the cost of infrastructure by more than half.

Rakuten Mobile is very selective in its choice of partners, so their choice of our technologies is a testament to our unique approach of purpose-built silicon, antennas and software with
advanced AI, mesh capabilities, and cloud control resulting in significant savings in deployment costs.”

https://www.crn.in/news/...xpand-5g-millimeter-wave-network-coverage/  

All you need to know about Telecom security in 5 minutes

October 26, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyfhx_FOp40  

Industry Experts at MWC Las Vegas 2022 – Azita Arvani, Rakuten Symphony

Ocotober 28, 2022

Azita Arvani, North America CEO, Rakuten Symphony talks to us at MWC Las Vegas 2022 about how Rakuten Symphony is helping to accelerate Open RAN deployments, how this can reduce operational costs and how Open RAN can accelerate the introduction of new services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugFMXAzMWWg  

Announcement of Completion of Partial Share Transfer of Rakuten Securities, Inc.

As announced in the statement “Announcement Regarding Conclusion of Strategic Capital and Business Alliance between Rakuten Securities Holdings and Mizuho Securities” published on October 7, 2022, the procedures for transfer of partial shares of Rakuten Securities, Inc. (Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Yuji Kusunoki, hereinafter “Rakuten Securities”) to Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Yoshiro Hamamoto, hereinafter “Mizuho Securities”) were completed on November 1, 2022.

As a result of this partial share transfer, the ownership ratio with voting rights in Rakuten Securities by Mizuho Securities is 19.99%, and Rakuten Securities became an equity-method affiliate of Mizuho Securities. After this partial share transfer, Rakuten Securities will remain as a consolidated subsidiary of Rakuten Group, Inc. and Rakuten Securities Holdings, Inc.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/1101_01.html