Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

Continued growth of Rakuten’s e-commerce businesses, driven by Rakuten Ichiba, led to strong growth in both revenue and operating income.

Revenue increased 13.2% YoY from 168,105 million JPY in Q2/21 to 190,306 million JPY (about $ 1.4 billion) in Q2/22.

Operating Income increased 30.4% YoY from 15,591 million JPY in Q2/21 to 20,335 million JPY (about $ 151 million) in Q2/22.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/documents/results/
22Q2setE.zip/22Q2PPT_E.pdf
 

Q2/22 Revenue YoY Operating Income YoY

Card 72.5 +5.5% 12.6 +17.1%
Bank 28.2 +9.1% 9.8 +31.0%
Securities 23.5 +14.0% 4.1 +20.7%
Insurance 25.0 -6.9% 2.7 +19.3%
Payment 11.9 +21.9% -1.8 -1.2
Others 1.7 +19.9% -1.0 -0.2
FinTech Total 162.7 ($ 1.21 billion) +6.3% 26.5 ($ 200 million) +17.4%

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/documents/results/
22Q2setE.zip/22Q2PPT_E.pdf
 

Additional posting to the Operating Income of Fintech of $ 200 million in Q2/2022
The Operating Income of Fintech of $ 200 million in Q2/2022 are $ 800 million on a yearly base. An extreme low P/E for fintech-incomes of only 20 result in a valutation of $ 16 billion.

This is more than the double for one of the three segments of Rakuten as the complete market-cap for all three segments of Rakuten.  

bewertet, wie die immer wieder von einigen in Vergleichen hier eingeflochtenen Gewinne von Hypoport, müsste allein der Fintech-Bereich von Rakuten bei einem KGV von 40 einen Wert von 32 Milliarden US-Dollar haben - ungefähr das Vierfache der kompletten Unternehmung Rakuten mit ihren drei Segementen.  

https://www.irwebcasting.com/220810/52/add2d816be/  

The Rakuten Group recorded revenue growth in all three segments in Q2 FY2022: Internet Services, FinTech and Mobile. Consolidated revenue achieved double-digit growth, up 13.5% year-on-year (YoY), coming to a total of 456.5 billion yen. In addition to the growth in domestic e-commerce transaction value due to both sustained user retention since the impact over two years ago of COVID-driven stay-at-home consumption and the recovery in domestic travel demand, the customer base expansion in Rakuten’s fintech services also contributed to the revenue increase.

In Q2 FY2022, the average number of monthly active users across the Rakuten Group in Japan surpassed 37 million, up 11.3% YoY. Cross-use also expanded steadily (74.7%) and the Rakuten Ecosystem’s customer base continues to grow.

Due to ongoing strategic investment in future growth for the Mobile segment, including the installation of network base stations, the Rakuten Group recorded Non-GAAP operating losses of 79.1 billion yen in Q2 FY2022. Excluding the Mobile business, Non-GAAP operating income was 45.2 billion yen (up 12.6% YoY). As forecast, Mobile segment losses peaked in Q1 FY2022 and gradually began to decrease in Q2. Going forward, losses are expected to continue to gradually decrease.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/0810_02.h  

Rakuten Rewards (Ebates) Operating Income increased 143.7% YoY from $ 8.2 million in Q2/2021 to 20.0 million in Q2/2022

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/investors/documents/results/
22Q2setE.zip/22Q2PPT_E.pdf
 

Rakuten Symphony indicated intensity of interest in its offering

Rakuten Symphony CRO Rabih Dabboussi indicated the open RAN platform provider experienced an intensity of interest in its offering since MWC Barcelona 2022, with more than 100 players identified as potential customers.

During a media and analyst call to discuss Rakuten Mobile’s Q2 results, Dabboussi said it had been aided by so-called brownfield operators progressing in testing and validating software-centric architecture.

Of the 115 companies said to be in its sales pipeline, 13 had signed up as customers with a further seven defined as closing, he noted.

“We believe the interest will continue to accelerate and intensify,” the executive noted.

https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/...ile-losses-mount/  

Aiming to increase the number of applications through quality improvement and regional marketing

Until now, users with a data usage of 1 GB or less could use it without a monthly fee, but the monthly fee will end at the end of August 2022, and the return will end at the end of October.

Regarding the significance of Rakuten Mobile, Mr. Mikitani explained, “Japan’s mobile phone charges, which had remained high compared to other countries in the world, have fallen dramatically. Rakuten Mobile aims to democratize the mobile phone market.”

Mr. Mikitani commented, “With the end of the free service, ARPU is expected to rise. Going forward, we will expand options and content in order to increase sales per person.”

Looking back on the 0-yen plan, he recalls, “It was a rather bold price setting that would have no meaning unless people used it, such as the technological development of Rakuten Symphony.” After the end of 0 yen, we will set three target users, “Royal Ecosystem User”, “Economically Rational”, and “Heavy User”, and aim to increase the unit price per person. He indicated a policy to promote efforts for cross-use users of the Rakuten Group such as Rakuten Ichiba, users who seek reasonable charges that only charge for the amount used, and users who perform data communication of 20 GB or more.

Aiming to become the No. 1 mobile phone carrier in Japan, we will promote initiatives based on the three pillars of “price advantage,” “improvement in quality,” and “marketing strategy.”

https://oorainbowoo.tokyo/...cellations-are-0-yen-users-keitai-watch/  

Speed is much faster with Rakuten Mobile customer acquisition than by Rakuten Card

„And as for subscribers, of course, they are expected to grow with the expansion of the population coverage, the build out of the network. And also for marketing, we are having area or region specific marketing strategies. So at the right timing, we will announce other such targets for our new customer acquisitions. It’s nearing 30 million Rakuten Card Holders, and compared to that as well, I think the speed is much faster with Rakuten Mobile customer acquisition, therefore, at an earliest possible timing 12 million or even 50 million is what we’re planning on, would like to reach. But we haven’t really announced the exact schedule for that. So please forgive me, I cannot share that with you.“

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-results-earnings-call-transcript  

„So, they Rakuten Mobile in 23 the profit in a single month is what we are aiming at and that is communicated and of course the depreciation cost must be built so EBITDA or the profit would happen before that. And other business including other businesses and overall cash flow will become the positive. The timing is not so far future. And then the mobile CapEx which is needed before the end of the year was already funded. So from the financial point of view, there is no big the burden. On the other hand, as you know, we have been working on the IPO a bank so the other financial other positions improvement will be done through that.“

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-results-earnings-call-transcript  

„I think it’s dramatically going down. We do not disclose the number, obviously, data usage is growing. But I think it is going down significantly. But at the same time, we cannot cover too much about details of any agreement. But we have some kind of fixed cost coverage we have to pay to KDDI. And anyhow, it’s going down dramatically. With regard to [Indiscernible] bilateral agreement with KDDI. So please understand that we cannot tell you how much we’re giving to KDDI, I think. But that’s a significant amount. And then it’s coming down dramatically.“

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-results-earnings-call-transcript  

„And today, what we haven’t covered is that advertisement business, which is a 26%, it’s still growing plus 26% YoY I should have mentioned this. So the entire ecosystem, the source is arbitrage. So where do we generate the source? Is a question. So you can define what do you want to find and easy to purchase? That is one thing, but the biggest thing is utilizing the data, and then develop appropriate advertisement. And we have like 160 or 170 billion yen of advertisement revenue to we want to grow it up to 200 billion yen to 400 billion yen it’s possible.“

https://seekingalpha.com/article/...-results-earnings-call-transcript  

Rakuten Securities Holdings will become the entity that applies for listing

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2022/...2520ir%2520fintech  

However, Mikitani said previously that the mobile operator’s losses would start to shrink sequentially around this period and he has been proven correct, as the operating loss for the second quarter was slightly better than the eye-watering ¥135bn (US$1bn) reported for the first quarter. This slight improvement was achieved as “more mobile network operator users became paying users” and roaming costs shrank as Rakuten Mobile’s network expanded, enabling its customers to connect to Rakuten’s own radio access network, and fewer customers needed to use roaming partner KDDI’s network.

So a corner has been turned, albeit a small corner on a very long journey.

But the improving trend will continue as Rakuten Mobile further builds out its 4G coverage – it had 47,556 operational base stations at the end of June covering 97.6% of the Japanese population with its 4G signal and aims to have more than 60,000 up and running by the end of next year to cover more than 99% of the country’s residents. This ongoing rollout is, of course, expensive, but 2021 was the zenith of the capital expenditure (capex) outlay: The operator’s capital expenditures, which have been enormous, are set to drop from this year (as the chart below shows), with the reduction between this year’s ¥300bn (US$2.26bn) and the planned 2023 total that comes in closer to ¥200bn (US$1.5bn) set to make a big difference to the operator’s financials.

https://www.telecomtv.com/content/access  

Rakuten on track to break even in 2023 as revenues rise 64.5% but subscribers fall

By Annie Turner 11 August 2022

Rakuten Mobile’s revenue rose to ¥84.6 billion (€613.65 million) in Q2 of its 2022 financial year, a rise of 64.5% over the same period last year. This is down to a number of factors. First, the growth in paying subscriber numbers after the free service plan campaign ended plus new subscribers, but that still means that as of end of June it had 5.46 million subscribers in total compared with 5.8 million at the end of April.

Projections now seem to be 12 million users, which is quite an adjustment from the target Rakuten group’s founder and CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, had talked about previously. No timeline was given for the revised target.

However, Rakuten points out that 80% of those who churned were users whose data use was under 1GB monthly, while there has been an increase in users consuming over 1GB on a monthly basis.

Rakuten Mobile’s CEO, Tareq Amin, is still insisting that undercutting competitors is a long-term strategy because of the cost structure of the network – see below. These figures have been much debated – and doubted – across the telecoms industry, but Amin is sticking to his guns and says they will be proved right as capex nosedives next year, as the infrastructure nears completion.

When asked about 5G roll out at the press briefing today, Amin said, “We have now deployed 12,000 base stations in 5G [up from about 4,000 in February]. Rakuten Mobile only deploys 32T/32R massive MIMO but because of the architecture of our Open RAN, our cost structure is dramatically lower than you would see had you had to purchase this product through a traditional vendor.

Another factor that Amin expects to accelerate its 5G deployment is the radio units it has designed with Qualcomm which will be used in 32T32R (which denotes the number of transmitters and receivers per unit) and 64T64R. He says this will be an industry “shocker”.

https://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/...ues-rise-64-5-but-subscribers-fall/  

Everyone must read: ORAN EXPLAINED BY RAKUTEN MOBILE CEO TAREQ AMIN

By Nilay Patel Aug 9, 2022, 11:35am EDT

https://www.theverge.com/23297756/...e-ceo-oran-cloud-network-decoder  

Rakuten’s ambition is not to be the plucky #4 in a saturated mobile market: it aims to be #1. It knows what will be required to get there.

Amin’s recipe for success in mobile is simple, and one that should resonate with every mobile operator:

disrupt on price – sustainably, by having a low cost base and scalable operations.

push hard and fast for ubiquitous coverage (outdoor, indoor and underground).

deliver a high-quality experience – both on the network, and with the day-to-day interactions between any mobile operator and subscribers from signup to issue resolution. (A walk-up customer to a Rakuten Mobile store can be up and running in 5 minutes, thanks to the use of eSIMs and online contracts.)

So far so good – a story that any mobile CEO could call their own. For a cloud era, however, he adds another: build loyalty through an ecosystem of adjacent digital services.

This Q2 update indicates it is a strategy that Rakuten is successfully delivering against. An operating model that reduces the cost per GB. 99% population coverage years ahead of plan (by end 2023), with almost 300k cells of various kinds deployed.

And all of this is before 5G really takes off. If (as everyone expects), 5G will raise demand for bandwidth significantly, then operators with flexible, scalable networks will have a widening cost advantage over those who don’t. In response to a question, Amin highlighted that downstream 5G capex is not a major concern, since Rakuten already owns the necessary software, its 5G capex is largely limited to antennas and commodity servers.

https://appledoreresearch.com/2022/08/11/...obile-symphony-q2-update/  

Europe’s first fully virtualized, Open RAN-based mobile network is making strides: Friendly User Test success in July

3 days ago

On August 4, 2022, at its second quarter earnings results, 1&1 shared an update on the progress of the buildout of Germany’s fourth mobile network – and the signs look great.

Network buildout progressing smoothly

According to the update, 1&1 and its partners, including Rakuten Symphony, initiated operation of the first antennas and data centers in the first half of 2022, and the expansion in the urban areas is progressing. As required by the expansion obligations relating to the 5G frequencies, 1&1 will cover 50 per cent of households in Germany by the end of 2030 – a goal that the company is confident it will exceed.

Great results from first Friendly User Test for fixed wireless access: speeds of 1 gigabit per second, latency times of 3 milliseconds

As the wireless network will initially be available solely in the proximity of these locations, 1&1 is starting with 5G mobile services as an alternative to landline connections. On this basis, a fixed-network replacement product implemented via mobile communications was tested under real conditions in a Friendly User Test (FUT) launched in July.

The 1&1 OpenRAN delivered the predicted performance values with speeds of 1 gigabit per second, latency times of 3 milliseconds for gaming applications in the EDGE cloud, and stable data transfers of more than 8 terabytes per customer within 24 hours.

In the coming months, additional functions will begin operation in 1&1’s network. They will include in particular telephony, for which the 1&1 OpenRAN will be connected to networks in Germany and abroad. Once these steps have been completed, presumably in the second half of 2023 – the national roaming services agreed with Telefonica Germany will be activated, enabling 1&1 to offer to its customers nationwide reception even during the rollout phase.

https://rakuten.today/blog/...an-based-mobile-network-progresses.html  

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 test satellite arrives Cape Canaveral for upcoming launch

AUGUST 10, 2022

Once in LEO, and following initial in-orbit testing and configuration, AST SpaceMobile plans to conduct BW3 direct-to-cell phone testing on every inhabited continent, in coordination with mobile network operators (MNOs). MNOs in the mission’s test plans include Vodafone, Rakuten Mobile and Orange, among others, using cell phone handsets from major global manufacturers.

Concurrent with the launch of BW3, AST SpaceMobile continues to build out its manufacturing capabilities to reach its goal of building six, nexgen, BlueBird satellites per month. The company intends to launch a LEO constellation of BlueBirds that would provide cellular broadband from space across the globe – on land, at sea and in the air.

“There are more than five billion mobile phones in use today globally, but many of us still experience gaps in coverage as we live, work and travel. Additionally, there are billions of people around the world who still lack access to broadband,” said Scott Wisniewski, Chief Strategy Officer at AST SpaceMobile. “We want our efforts to significantly increase the availability of cellular broadband globally by providing a space-based network to existing, unmodified mobile phones. The delivery of BlueWalker 3 to Cape Canaveral represents another milestone in our efforts to reach this goal.”

https://news.satnews.com/2022/08/10/...canaveral-for-upcoming-launch/  

„Rakuten Group schnellten um 7,9 Prozent hoch nach positiv aufgenommenen Halbjahreszahlen.“

https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/...-wenig-bewegung-11625404  

Rakuten Gruppe berichtet Finanzergebnisse für Q2 FY2022

11. August 2022

Die Rakuten Gruppe verzeichnete im 2. Quartal des Geschäftsjahres 2022 ein Umsatzwachstum in allen drei Segmenten: Internet Services, FinTech und Mobile. Der konsolidierte Umsatz wuchs zweistellig um 13,5 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr und belief sich auf insgesamt 456,5 Milliarden Yen. Neben dem Wachstum des Transaktionswerts im inländischen E-Commerce aufgrund der anhaltenden Kundenbindung seit den Auswirkungen des COVID-getriebenen Aufenthaltskonsums vor über zwei Jahren und der Erholung der inländischen Reisenachfrage trug auch die Erweiterung des Kundenstamms bei Rakutens FinTech-Diensten zum Umsatzanstieg bei.

Aufgrund der laufenden strategischen Investitionen in das zukünftige Wachstum des Mobilfunksegments, einschließlich der Installation von Netzwerk-Basisstationen, verzeichnete die Rakuten Gruppe im zweiten Quartal des GJ2022 einen Non-GAAP-Betriebsverlust von 79,1 Milliarden Yen. Ohne das Mobilfunkgeschäft lag das Non-GAAP-Betriebsergebnis bei 45,2 Mrd. Yen (+12,6 % im Vergleich zum Vorjahr). Wie prognostiziert, erreichten die Verluste im Mobilfunksegment im ersten Quartal des GJ2022 ihren Höhepunkt und begannen im zweiten Quartal allmählich zu sinken. Es wird erwartet, dass die Verluste auch in Zukunft schrittweise sinken werden.

https://www.onlinemarktplatz.de/213828/...zergebnisse-fuer-q2-fy2022/  

„The world is celebrating what we have done. They like and enjoy the ideas around this disaggregated network, and they love the concept of cloud-native architecture. What I love the most is that we opened up a healthy debate across the globe. We really encourage and support what Dish is doing in the United States by deploying Open RAN as an architecture. I think this is absolutely the right platform to build resilient, scalable, cost-effective mobile networks for the future.“

https://www.theverge.com/23297756/...e-ceo-oran-cloud-network-decoder  

„Darüber hinaus wuchs der Kundenstamm von Rakutens Content-Geschäft im Vergleich zum Vorjahr deutlich*4. So stieg die Gesamtzahl der registrierten Nutzer von Rakuten TV auf 58,6 Millionen (plus 63,9 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr), die Gesamtzahl der registrierten Nutzer von Rakuten Viki auf 59,6 Millionen (plus 32,6 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr) und die Gesamtzahl der registrierten Nutzer von Rakuten Viber auf 1,38 Milliarden (plus 7,2 % gegenüber dem Vorjahr).“

https://www.klamm.de/news/...ergebnisse-fuer-q2-fy2022-14N213828.html  

Significant departure from conventional telecom operations built on layers of probes, EMS, NMS and OSS

So far so good – a story that any mobile CEO could call their own. For a cloud era, however, he adds another: build loyalty through an ecosystem of adjacent digital services.

This Q2 update indicates it is a strategy that Rakuten is successfully delivering against. An operating model that reduces the cost per GB. 99% population coverage years ahead of plan (by end 2023), with almost 300k cells of various kinds deployed.

And all of this is before 5G really takes off. If (as everyone expects), 5G will raise demand for bandwidth significantly, then operators with flexible, scalable networks will have a widening cost advantage over those who don’t. In response to a question, Amin highlighted that downstream 5G capex is not a major concern, since Rakuten already owns the necessary software, its 5G capex is largely limited to antennas and commodity servers.

Principles of a Resilient Network

Inspired no doubt by recent major outages at Rogers and KDDI, Amin took a few minutes to highlight the features that support resilience in Rakuten Mobile’s network. The prominence of Observability is important, because it represents a significant departure from conventional telecom operations built on layers of probes, EMS, NMS and OSS. (Appledore has recently published a profile on Symphony’s Observability Framework).

https://appledoreresearch.com/2022/08/11/...obile-symphony-q2-update/