Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Open RAN Beats Expectations Again in 3Q 2022, According to Dell'Oro Group

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 1, 2022

According to a recently published report from Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, the Open RAN train continues to move forward and accelerate at a faster pace than expected. Preliminary findings suggest the regional drivers that shaped the Open RAN market in the first half of 2022 extended into the third quarter, propelling Open RAN revenues to more than double on a year-over-year basis.

Short-term projections have been revised upward to reflect the higher baseline – Open RAN is now projected to account for 6 to 10 percent of the RAN market in 2023. Open RAN growth rates, however, are expected to decelerate next year, reflecting the likelihood that the sum of new brownfield deployments will be able to offset more challenging comparisons with the early adopters.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...s-expectations-again-133000795.html  

Symworld Cloud has been recognized as a „platform leader“ in Edge Cloud

2022 GigaOm Radar for Mobile Edge Solutions

The Robin.io portfolio has been rebranded as Symworld Cloud, effective November 2022.

Symworld Cloud is the world's first telecom edge cloud that's deployed in production and proven at scale.

Enabling the industry’s first fully cloud-native 5G architecture for Rakuten Mobile Inc., with up to 40% cost reduction.

First in-production containerized 5G stack with millions of subscribers.

Enabling Open RAN and Core on COTS hardware 50% reduction in CapEx.

Large-scale automation leading to massive reduction in deployment time 80% from 10 days to minutes.

Running VNFs and CNFs in a single platform 30% faster.

https://symphony.rakuten.com/...k&hss_channel=fbp-106809165069625  

Rakuten TV ist eine der führenden Video on Demand-Plattformen in Europa, die TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand), AVOD (Advertising Video on Demand), FAST Kanäle (Free Ad Supported Streaming TV) und SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) kombiniert.

Der TVOD Dienst bietet ein authentisches Kinoerlebnis mit den neuesten Veröffentlichungen zum Kauf oder zum Leihen in hoher Audio und Videoqualität. Der SVOD Dienst ermöglicht ein Abonnement für den Premium Dienst Lionsgate plus. Das werbefinanzierte Angebot umfasst die Dienste AVOD und FAST. Der AVOD Dienst bietet mehr als 10.000 Titel auf Abruf, darunter Filme, Dokumentationen und Serien aus Hollywood und lokalen Studios sowie den Katalog mit Originalinhalten und Exklusivinhalten. Der FAST Service besteht aus einem umfangreichen Angebot von über 250 kostenlosen linearen Kanälen von globalen Netzwerken, europäischen Top Sendern und Mediengruppen sowie den plattformeigenen thematischen Kanälen mit kuratierten Inhalten.

Rakuten TV ist in 43 europäischen Ländern verfügbar und erreicht derzeit mehr als 110 Millionen Haushalte über seine Marken-Fernbedienungstaste und die vorinstallierte App auf Smart TV Geräten.

Rakuten TV ist Teil der Rakuten Group, Inc. einem der weltweit führenden Internetdienstleister mit den Schwerpunkten E-Commerce, Fintech, digitale Inhalte und Kommunikation. Rakuten ist der offizielle Partner der NBA, der Golden State Warriors und des Davis Cups.

https://www.guetsel.de/content/54655/...mentation-von-rakuten-tv.html  

des Yens um weitere ca. 5% gegenüber dem Euro, da die Inflationsraten in Japan einfach wesentlich niedriger sind - und langfristig, wenn auch sehr langfristig, bestimmen nun einmal die Inflationsdifferenzen die Wechselkurse.

Und die japanische Zentralbank wird sich dagegen auch nicht wehren, sondern eher umgekehrt, da sie nach vielen Jahren bzw. Jahrzehnten erstmals jetzt keine höhere Inflation will.

Und das Gute für Rakuten: Da Rakuten kaum exportiert, werden sie davon kaum beeinträchtigt.

Und das Gute für Rakuten-Anleger im Euro-Raum: Der Wert  von Rakuten steigt nicht nur wegen des sich abzeichnenden Turn-Arounds, sondern es kommen auch noch Währungsgewinn beim umgerechneten Aktienkurs hinzu. Und für Anleger aus dem Dollar-Raum dürfte das noch ausgprägterablaufen.  

Simplifying cellular site operations for field engineers via task automation

By Mayank Kanik
Product Manager Rakuten Symphony
November 23, 2022

Gone are the days when the only way for field engineers to receive task details was via emails or phone calls, which was inefficient, resulting in duplication of efforts. Today these problems have found their solution in the highly automated mobile solution of Symconnect from Rakuten Symphony Symworld suite of products wherein field engineers are provided details of their respective tasks through in-app task notifications. It also eliminates the prerequisite of carrying a laptop to the site as it enables offline task execution which does not require network access.

Automating Cell Site Operations

One of the major problems was the need for more alignment between project and field teams. Symconnect bridges this gap by offering harmonization and centralized access to acknowledge base, allowing technicians to act proactively with minimal errors, resulting in timely delivery. Symconnect also addresses the approach of paper-based manual field data collection wherein field engineers had to first collect the data from sites and then head back to the office to do manual entry of the data. This is made possible with dynamic forms associated with tasks, helping data collection and eliminating manual entries in the system, resulting in reduced total time and errors.

The flexibility of having a mobile device-based application continues to enrich the life of the field engineers as we have continued to address the challenges faced in site management.

Mobile-enabled field tech force is the answer to quick network deployment and reduced time to market.

Even the need to carry cell site access permission letters is gone, and the problem of engineers getting lost on the route is removed with in-app navigation and geo-tagging, as it is all included in the Symconnect app.

Mobile-enabled field tech force is the answer to quick network deployment and reduced time to market, eliminating all the time coordinating with the field crew. This is what we deliver with Symconnect.

https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...ld-engineers-via-task-automation

 

Es steht und fällt mit dem Bestehen bzw. Wegfalls des Roamings

Ob das allerdings "Far from Over" ist möchte ich bezweifeln, denn bei einem Wegfall des Roamings erreicht Rakuten Mobile relaltiv schnell die Gewinnschwelle, weil die Kosten sinken und man dann massiv auf Kundenfang gehen kann, da dann jeder neue Kunde zusätzliche Gewinne und nicht zusätzliche Verluste produziert.

Das Problem scheint mir, dass wir nicht genau wissen, was 98% Netzabdeckung bedeutet, z.B. ob man da überall auch schon perfekt in Innernräume kommt. Und daher hält man das Roaming aufrecht und wir dürfen auch nicht vergessen, dass die 98% Abdeckung eigentlich erst in 4 Jahren erreicht sein sollten und mit welchen Laufzeiten Roaming-Verträge abgeschlossen wurden, die man vielleicht in diesem Umfang gar nicht mehr braucht.

Daher kann die immer wiederholte Ankündigung, dass man auf Monatsbasis in 2023 mit Rakuten Mobile die Gewinnschwelle erreichen werde, m.E. nur bedeuten, dass große Teile des Roamings in den nächsten Monaten wegfallen und das ist m.E. nicht "Far from Over".

Rakuten (Neutral) – Follow up After Results: Mobile Issues Far from Over

By Kirk Boodry

Rakuten’s successful junk bond sale means the Rakuten Bank IPO will happen next year and not in December as some had feared

More detail on mobile shows that network costs including D&A are 4x that of service revenue and slightly higher QoQ. Roaming alone is higher than service revenue

And that means Rakuten can’t aggressively go after new subscribers unless it wants operating losses to accelerate. Bad for Rakuten but good news for incumbents KDDI, NTT and Softbank.

https://www.smartkarma.com/home/daily-briefs/...-weilong-delicious-g/

 

Die folgenden Aussagen wurden im Rahmen des Earning Calls gemacht und können schon aus rechtlichen Gründen nicht einfach aus der Luft gegriffen sein.

„Rakuten said the losses will continue to fall until an operating profit level is achieved at the end of next year, by which time the operator will have achieved 99% population coverage via its 4G network’s 60,000-plus base stations (it is at almost 98% now via 50,400 base stations), with 5G rollout some way behind (currently 6,440 base stations).“

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/open-ran/...and-subs-decline-45923/
 

Top Gun: Maverick

TOP 10 MOVIES
        1.         –§Top Gun: Maverick
        2.         –    Memory          §
        3.       n/a      Nope          §
        4.       n/a     Beast          §
        5.        -1§Bullet Train
        6.        -3§Thor: Love and Thunder
        7.        -2§Jurassic World Dominion
        8.        -1§Project Gemini
        9.        +1§Wrath of Man
       10.        -4§There Are No Saints

https://flixpatrol.com/top10/rakuten-tv/germany/2022-12-04/
 

Rakuten is an important onwer and an important client of AST

December 5, 2022 By Colin Mann

AST SpaceMobile, the company building what it says is the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has confirmed the closing of its offering of 13,636,364 shares of Class A Common Stock raising gross proceeds of $75.0 million (€71.1m).

“We are pleased to announce this successful capital raise as we continue executing on our mission of connecting the unconnected,” said Sean Wallace, Chief Financial Officer of AST SpaceMobile. “We were excited to see the demand for this offering, which allowed us to upsize the offering from $65 million. We welcome all of our new stockholders.”

https://advanced-television.com/2022/12/05/ast-spacemobile-raises-75m/  

KATLENE O. CACHO

December 01, 2022

HAILING micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as the backbone of the country’s economy, messaging platform Viber commits to revitalize the growth of this sector to fuel post-pandemic recovery.

David Tse, senior director for Asia Pacific at Rakuten Viber, led the Viber team during the workshop. He stressed Cebu is one of the global tech player’s major growth areas in the country.

“Engaging with the Viber community in Cebu is part of the company’s ethos of serving users first and foremost,” he said, adding that Viber wants to be more relevant in the Philippine market and in particular understand the Cebu market better, especially since the app has gone beyond being a messaging app.

Viber partnered with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry to take a more active role in educating, enabling and empowering the MSMEs.

In 2022, the Philippines posted 244 percent in MSME Viber growth channels year-on-year, with a 45 percent increase in monthly active users.

The platform also posted 38 percent growth in group features usage year-on-year.

Karla Banua, sales head of advertising in APAC at Rakuten Viber, talked about how different businesses can increase engagement and drive sales with Viber for Business.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1947510/cebu/...elp-msmes-flourish  

Global Affiliate Marketing Platform Market 2023 Size and Emerging Trends that Value Expected to Reach USD 27780.09 Mn - Growing at CAGR of 9.89% - Forecast to 2027

By TheExpressWire Published December 5, 2022

Affiliate Marketing Platform market report provides the analysis of various market segments according to product types, covering sales volume, revenue along with market share and growth rate, plus the price analysis of each type and manufactures Shopify, Avangate Affiliate Network, Amazon, ShareASale, Taobao, MaxBounty, CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Advertising, Bluehost, ConvertKit, eBay, Clickbank, AWIN, JD, Tradedoubler.

“Final Report will add the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.”


Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/...9-forecast-to-2027#ixzz7mcEKjX00
 

Japanese Digital Marketplaces are Hot! What to Know About Setting Up Shop

December 5, 2022 at 8:10 AM EST

By Tommy Vogtman, Mamenta

With proper planning and the right partners, the Japanese digital marketplace is a prime one to enter: projected at $144 billion dollars, Japan is the fourth largest ecommerce marketplace, growing at an almost 15% annual growth rate. It boasts an internet penetration rate of 93%. Growth markets include food, personal care, fashion, beauty products, toys, electronics and furniture amongst many other categories. Japan’s cross-border ecommerce market is growing as well: today it’s a $2 billion (USD) market, estimated to reach over $5 billion in 2030, and where new opportunities lie for U.S. and global companies.

Rakuten is Japan’s largest online shopping marketplace; with 111 million registered users it’s embedded into the daily lives of 90% of the Japanese population. Rakuten businesses include marketing, data analytics, travel, food delivery, messaging, banking/credit life insurance and telecommunications.

https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/topics/...now-about-setting-up-shop  

05 DEC 2022

Mike Robuck

https://www.mobileworldlive.com/blog/...zon-step-forward-on-open-ran/  

https://www.rakuten-life.co.jp/  

Rakuten is the biggest owner of Cabify
Beat exits Latam, Cabify is preferred mobility alternative

15 Nov 22

International multi-mobility ride hailing platforms Cabify (Spain) and Beat (Greece) are working togetherto continue enabling mobility in Latin American cities for millions of passengers and drivers.

Beat, which announced its exit of the Latin American market last Wednesday (8 Nov) after 10 years in the region, is now referring Cabify as a mobility alternative. The Beat mobile-app platform will be active in Latin America until 7 December.

In the last few days, up to 218% more users have tried Cabify services for the first time in its operational area. There has also been a 60% increase in new driver-partners in the region, with thousands still going through the verification process, according to a Cabify release.

Beat’s footprint included 17 million passenger users and more than 1 million collaborating drivers in Peru, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina.

https://www.globalfleet.com/en/smart-mobility/...2520LaTAm&curl=1  

Allianz X acquires embedded InsurTech specialist Simplesurance

https://www.insuranceinsider.com/article/...-specialist-simplesurance

DATE INVESTORS AMOUNT ROUND

https://app.dealroom.co/companies/simplesurance  

https://otona-life.com/2022/05/01/117312/  

I believe a target of JPY 1,000 is too low, because Rakuten had confirmed in the Q3/22-earnings-call again a break even of Rakuten Mobile on a monthly base in 2023

Hopes for Rakuten Mobile Turnaround With Possible Platinum Band Reallocation; Cut FVE To JPY 1,000

Kazunori Ito Director

Analyst Note

Nov 21, 2022

Rakuten’s third-quarter results were below expectations, mainly due to a slower-than-expected improvement in the mobile segment’s profitability, as a result of lower retention of paid customers and higher-than-expected network costs (including roaming costs). Based on this, we cut Rakuten’s fair value estimate to JPY 1,000 from JPY 1,100 after toning down the operating income projections of the mobile segment in the next two years. Although the prospect of acquiring rights to use the platinum band is positive for Rakuten, it will still take some time before the network quality actually improves. Therefore, we are concerned that the capital expenditure burden on building base stations and marketing costs will continue to put pressure on Rakuten’s earnings for the time being. While we retain our view that Rakuten’s shares are undervalued, we will keep a close eye on the company’s fundraising strategy.

https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/xtks/4755/quote  

dass die Investoren nicht abschätzen können, wieviel Roaming auch bei einer so bezeichneten Abdeckung von 98% bzw. 99% Rakuten noch in Anspruch nimmt bzw. in Anspruch nehmen muss. Aussagen darüber bleiben vage, man erfährt nur, dass es weniger wird und man u.a. dadurch auf Monatsbasis in 2023 den Break Even von Rakuten Mobile erreichen werde.

Begründet werden die vagen Aussagen damit, dass die Roaming-Verträge zwei Vertragsparteien betreffen würden und man daher nichts Konkretes sagen könne. Ob das tatsächlich Bestandteil der Verträge ist, lasse ich einmal offen.  

198.8 billion JPY + 77.5 billion JPY + 68.2 billion JPY = 344.5 billion JPY ($ 2.52 billion) cash of non-financial businesses of Rakuten

First:

Cash of non-financial businesses on September 30, 2022 = 198.8 billion


Second:

Rakuten : Announcement of Receipt of Dividends from a Consolidated Subsidiary

11/02/2022 | 07:20am GMT

As announced in the statement "Announcement of Completion of Partial Share Transfer of Rakuten Securities, Inc." published on November 1, 2022, following the completion of partial share transfer of Rakuten Securities Inc., Rakuten Group, Inc. ("the Company") announces that it has received JPY 77.5 billion in dividends from Rakuten Securities Holdings, Inc., a consolidated subsidiary of the Company.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/...ed-Subsidiary-42171879/


Third:

$500 million bonds = 68.2 billion JPY

USD-denominated Unsecured Bond due November 2024

November 30, 2022

2 Years

USD 500m

10.250%

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/stock/bond.html  

In-Depth Marketing Strategy of Rakuten – Detailed Explanation

By Aditya Shastri

Updated on: Oct 3, 2022

https://iide.co/case-studies/marketing-strategy-of-rakuten/  

Rakuten in 2022: Continuing to Challenge with Belief in the Future

December 9, 2022

2022 was the year it became possible for people to once again gather in person with a sense of unity. It was also a year that marked the 25th anniversary of the foundation of Rakuten Ichiba in 1997, while businesses Group-wide demonstrated a renewed dedication to taking on new challenges under the theme of "Gratitude & Commitment." Let's take a look back at Rakuten Group's 2022.

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

Der Betrag von 198.8 billion JPY + 77.5 billion JPY + 68.2 billion JPY = 344.5 billion JPY ($ 2.52 billion) cash of non-financial businesses of Rakuten reicht m.E. auf jeden Fall bis dahin, wo der bisher negative Cash Flow from Operations ins Positive dreht (was für Rakuten als Gesamtheit früher der Fall ist als für Rakuten Mobile), was durchaus schon in Q2/2023 der Fall sein dürfte.

Für mich ist lediglich fraglich, ob die in den nächsten drei Quartalen Q4/22 bis Q2/23 aus diesem Betrag auch die - wenn auch kleineren - Investitionen noch gedeckt werden, ohne das ein weiteres Funding läuft (z.B. die Monetarisierung von 20% von Rakuten Bank und/oder eine Yen-Fremdfinanzierung oder z.B. die Monetarisierung der fast 50% an Cabify, die durchaus $700 Millionen bis $ 1 Milliarde bringen würde).

Ab Q3/2023 oder Q4/2023 gehe ich dann davon aus, dass der positive Cash Flow from Operations des Gesamtunternehmens auch die Investitionen abdeckt und zusätzlich Cash produziert wird, die man zur Reduzierung der Verschuldung einsetzen kann oder auch in etwas fernerer Zukunft zum Rückkauf von Aktien, wenn die Kursentwicklung zurückbleibt.  

Open RAN Customer Experience Center to Serve All of Europe

By Nastasi Karaiskos, Managing Director, Rakuten Symphony UK

December 7, 2022

Open RAN is one of the biggest innovations the telecom industry has witnessed – a paradigm shift in how 4G and 5G networks are built that is leading to service agility and to lower cost and rapid service rollout.

Technology changes that are as significant as Open RAN require customer education and demonstrations to show that the network will work and that customers should leave their safe, but inefficient, legacy technology to get the benefits.

The success of the Rakuten Mobile 4G/5G networks in Japan, which were built using Open RAN technology, went a long way toward proving that the technology can work. But each network and operator environment are different. And operators want to know that the technology works on their networks. Also, the advantage of Open RAN is the ecosystem of software, hardware and system integration partners that allow the operator a chance to develop the highest performing system for their network.

We want to give the industry a place to explore Open RAN, and that’s why Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony just announced they are opening the Open RAN Customer Experience Center based in the UK to serve all of Europe.

https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...ce-center-to-serve-all-of-europe  

2022/10/6

Rakuten Ventures invests in Tokyo-based Healthcare platform company "Ubie".

2022/9/7

Rakuten Global EC Fund invests in Tokyo-based Circular economy promoter company "JEPLAN".

2022/8/25

Rakuten Ventures invests in Korea-based D2C Jewelry company "Bejewel".

2022/8/2

Rakuten FinTech Fund invests in U.S.based ESG impact analysis "Proof of Impact".

2022/8/2

Rakuten Global EC Fund invests in India-based Pay with Reward Fintech company "Twid".

2022/6/2

Rakuten Global EC Fund invests in Tokyo-based Telemedicine company "Aimed".

2022/4/27

Rakuten Ventures invests in Tokyo-based Map Engine Optimization company "mov".

2022/3/31

Rakuten Global EC Fund invests in LATAM-based reward program, cashback, and Fintech company "Leal".

https://capital.rakuten.com/