Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

February 25, 2021

Rakuten is expanding its research and development (R&D) footprint in India by doubling its workforce in Bangalore. It is also expanding its presence in Indore.

Amin said that it is working with all large Indian IT players to address the global telecom market. “...we are in deep partnership and collaboration to help that would help both us as well as the service providers in India to transform this industry, as well as the potential for global telecom transformation,” Amin said during a fireside chat at ETTelecom’s 5G Congress virtual event.

“...there is not a better, more exciting time for India, especially as India starts to become more apparent in its capability in hardware building and software architecture building for 5G network,” Amin added.

Rakuten’s CTO said that India plays a pivotal role in its transformation towards an open network platform architecture.

“The ICT industry in India has embraced the journey that Rakuten is moving towards...they not only embraced it, they wanted to participate, and are always calling us to say how we can help and how we can do more,” Amin said.

https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/...eq-amin/81210060

 

"Heading into 2020, the Japanese tourism industry was a juggernaut that saw annual visitors to Japan surge from roughly 6.2 million in 2011 to nearly 32 million in 2019. With the 2020 Olympics on the horizon, Japan’s goal of 40 million annual visitors seemed within reach. But the pandemic reversed the upwards trend, forcing a sharp u-turn that saw international visitors tumble to a 98% decline compared to the year before."

https://rakuten.today/blog/...-global-through-online-experiences.html  

Rakuten Mobile hits 1.77 Gbps on mmWave network in Japan

by Bevin Fletcher |
Mar 26, 2021 1:05pm

Rakuten Mobile achieved 1.77 Gbps throughput in a recent test on its millimeter wave network in Japan.

Altiostar touted performance and automation capabilities of the virtualized cloud-native 5G network, which launched in September using the vendor’s Open vRAN software. Rakuten has an equity stake in Altiostar.

“This is a significant milestone for the Rakuten Mobile and Altiostar partnership towards commercial realization of a high performing, cloud-native 5G RAN architecture,” said Ashraf Dahod, CEO of Altiostar, in a statement. “The Altiostar container-based solution allows Rakuten Mobile to quickly provision new sites and turn up service for a customer in record time."

The announcement was light on details about the test, which took place in December, but noted the download speed was a gigabit higher than average download speeds in Japan based on Q3 speed tests from Ookla. Those results showed the fastest 10% of users in Japan saw average download speeds of 719.42 Mbps.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/...gbps-mmwave-network-japan  

"People say that our advantage is that we are a greenfield operator, but I believe it is our people and work culture. We are not a telecommunications company – we are an IT company with highly skilled IT engineers, and that is a huge advantage."

— TAREQ AMIN, Rakuten Group Executive VP & Rakuten Mobile CTO

https://www.accenture.com/no-en/case-studies/...-media/rakuten-mobile  

AI-Powered Savings Apps Can Help You Save As Much As A Stimulus Check

Ron Shevlin
Mar 22, 2021

While traditional banks advertise a 0.05% interest rate for deposits in their savings accounts, a growing number of consumers have turned to a new crop of mobile apps—automated or “self-driving” savings apps—to help them save.

In a recent consumer study, Cornerstone Advisors found that savings apps like Acorns, Digit, and Qapital help consumers save an average of $600 a year above and beyond their regular level of savings—and one in five users saves more than $1,000.

At a 0.05% interest rate, you’d need $1.2 million in a savings account in order to earn $600 in a year.
These new apps help consumers figure out how much they could save (above and beyond what they’re already saving)—and then take the money out of the user’s checking account and put it in a savings account.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronshevlin/2021/03/...0/?sh=39b826fe1641  

Acorns is a micro-investment platform. You don't need a lot to get started or to keep your investments growing.

If all you have is a little spare change, consider Acorns. This robo-advisor works by rounding up your transactions to the nearest dollar and putting the leftover change into your investment account. There's no minimum account balance or fees for trading, which some other picks have. But a basic account is $1 a month and you'll start investing your leftover money through their automatic Round Ups program. When you make a purchase on a linked card, your transaction is rounded up to the nearest dollar and your leftover change goes into your Acorns investment account. It makes investing hands-off you don't even need to worry about logging in to make minimum investment contributions. It's great if you don't have a lot of cash to devote to investing right now but still want to get started.
There's also a $3 a month personal account that has many accounts in one, including investing, retirement, checking and a physical debit card. The $5 a month family plan gives you investment accounts for kids plus investing, retirement and checking accounts.

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/investing/best-robo-advisor/  

Anthony Capano: Die Menschen haben in diesem Jahr mehr Zeit vor ihren Smart-TVs verbracht. 2020 war in dieser Hinsicht ein Jahr der Streamingdienste und dieser Trend wird sich 2021 fortsetzen. Demzufolge werden viele Investitionen in Richtung Video-on-Demand verlagert und dabei werden reine Abo-Modelle neben werbefinanzierten Streamingdiensten koexistieren.
Generell haben wir auch gesehen, dass viele Marken mehr in eine bessere Erfahrung für die Verbraucher investieren. Die Finanzdienstleister und die Reisebranche haben am stärksten gelitten, aber wir erwarten, dass sie sich wieder erholen werden. Die meisten Menschen sind sehr erpicht darauf, wieder ein normales Leben zu führen. Daher sehen wir, dass diese Sektoren sich erholen werden, wenn sie die schwierigen Zeiten überstehen können.

https://www.e-commerce-magazin.de/...ting-strategie-in-das-jahr-2021/
 

Operating in various sectors from e-commerce to mobile network and financial technology, Rakuten has a market capitalization of around $16.4 billion. As the company grows and expands, it needs capital to continue to do so. According to Hiroshi Mikitani, Rakuten’s founder, chairman and CEO,” the company is growing very fast — even at this size — and we need more capital for the growth.”

Tencent appears to be Rakuten’s ticket to the Chinese market after failing to reach a partnership with the Chinese internet giant, Baidu. “Now, with a partnership with Tencent, we have a channel to export Japanese products to the Chinese market, as well as export Japanese content ... to the Chinese market as well,” stated Mikitani.

https://capex.com/de/market-news/expansion-is-pricey-for-rakuten-4  

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/...andemic-demand-5g
 

https://corp.rakuten.co.in/about/
 

I am sure, that Rakuten Mobile had reached on April 7 between 4 and 4.5 million subsribers

"Tokyo, March 1, 2021 – Rakuten Mobile, Inc. today announced that applications for the Rakuten UN-LIMIT campaign initially launched in April 2020 offering subscribers their first full year of service free of monthly fees will close on April 7, 2021."

https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2021/0301_01/  

The Performance of Open vRAN Architectures – CET 2021

As Open vRAN has been challenged in recent times, this technology has time and again proven effectual for performance, cost savings and optimized system integration. Open vRAN performs very well in high density environments, widely proven with the Rakuten deployment in Tokyo and other large cities in Japan. The cost savings of Open vRAN have also been shown to be effective by Rakuten, and system integration challenges are being resolved. Watch this executive session with leaders in the Open vRAN space on debunking the misconceptions of ORAN.

Executive Speakers:
• Thierry Maupilé – EVP Strategy & Product Management, Altiostar Networks
• Caroline Chan – VP and GM, Network Business Incubator Division, Intel Corporation
• Juan Carlos Garcia Lopez – SVP Technology and Ecosystems, Telefónica
• Honore LaBourdette – VP, Industry Verticals & Edge Telco, Media & Entertainment, Red Hat
• Patrick Lopez – Global VP Product Management – 5G, NEC

https://www.altiostar.com/...-performance-of-oran-solutions-cet-2021/  

How to order from Mercury Drug Delivery via Viber, GCash

BY BRYAN RILLORAZA  FEBRUARY 21, 2021

After the pandemic and the quarantine, shopping and buying essentials moved to online stores, including groceries and medicine. Drug stores like Mercury Drug now has an online delivery service for medicine. In my experience, the better option is ordering through their Viber service.

In this how to, we’re going to go through how you can order medicine online on Mercury Drug via their Viber delivery service.

is is the easiest and most convenient way to have your medicine delivered. I can’t vouch for other areas, but my experience with the Mercury Drug branch in Jaka Plaza, Paranaque was hassle free, met with friendly people.

At the time of this article, the delivery service is available in Metro Manila.

https://www.technobaboy.com/2021/02/21/...y-drug-delivery-viber-gcash
 

Viber chatbots on the walk

04 March 2021

DTEK Odesa Grids to launch updated Viber and Telegram chatbots

“DTEK cares about its customers; therefore we consistently develop service channels. Using the chatbots, household customers submit meter readings, report a problem with the power supply, and apply for maintenance of metering devices at a time convenient for them. It is simple and convenient, and most importantly, it saves time. The service is available 24/7,” says Oleksandr Fomenko, DTEK Odesa Grids CEO.

In order to start using the chatbot, you need to:
         •§Search for "DTEK Odesa Grids" in Viber or Telegram or follow the link;
         •§Follow the prompts of the drop-down menu, receive or submit the required information;

Using the chatbot, the customers can:
         •§Submit meter readings;
         •§Report an emergency or an energy fraud;
         •§Apply for the metering devices maintenance;
         •§Learn about emergencies;
         •§Get answers to frequently asked questions

https://grids.dtek.com/en/media-center/press/...viber-i-telegram/?amp
 

Significant government initiatives will impact 5G and Open RAN

For innovation to succeed, there’s often been the need for a public-private partnership to provide a seal of approval and build confidence among potential customers.

Perhaps the most famous example in the U.S. is the Internet, which was initially developed as ARPANET by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in partnership with several universities.

Open RAN is another innovation that could have a significant impact on the world as the foundation of 5G networks. The radio access network (RAN) accounts for around 75% of the cost of a wireless network. Open RAN makes it better, more agile and less expensive.

Two significant government initiatives will impact 5G and Open RAN. The Secure and Trusted
Communications Networks Act of 2019 authorized $1.9 billion for a “rip-and-replace” program that allows rural MNOs to replace wireless equipment sold by companies that are a national security risk. This opens the door for these MNOs to utilize Open RAN instead. This bill was funded by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act 2021.

The second act is the Utilizing Strategic Allied (USA) Telecommunications Act which provides more than $1 billion to invest in alternatives to unsafe wireless equipment providers. This act is authorized in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but is not yet funded.

Both of these legislative initiatives should give a boost to Open RAN solutions. And both passed with strong bi-partisan support. This is because Congress views Open RAN used in 5G networks as strategic and because leading in this market segment will be good for consumers and create jobs.

During the event, I emphasized that Open RAN currently leverages technology from several vendors. In the 4G/5G networks we’ve been a part of, many U.S. and international companies are contributing the servers, CPUs, and radios to go along with our software. The combined R&D resources of these vendors is many times that of the traditional RAN vendors, providing a path to greater innovation and disruption in the market. A diverse ecosystem can only help MNOs to drive down network costs and increase innovation as they start down the path of Open RAN.

With legislative support in the U.S. and overseas, the industry can create an Open RAN ecosystem that drives down the cost of 5G networks. It is exciting to team with people that are committed to working with legislators and agency representatives to level the playing field so that Open RAN can win on its own merits.

https://www.altiostar.com/...islative-policy-initiatives-in-open-ran/  

144.28+15.42 (+11.97%)
At close: April 1 4:00PM EDT
52 Week Range 22.61 - 165.66
    Volume 1,736,899§
Avg. Volume 2,276,991
Market Cap 10.622B

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/UPST/financials?p=UPST


Investors that held more than a 5 percent stake in the company before the IPO were Third Point Ventures (19.4 percent), Stone Ridge Trust (9 percent), Khosla Ventures (8.3 percent), Rakuten (5.3 percent) and First Round Capital (5.1 percent), according to the company’s S-1 filing.

https://news.crunchbase.com/news/...s-jump-47-on-first-day-of-trading
 

Neues zu Affiliate-Produkten: Stärkere Partnerschaften dank Transparenz und Insights

Von Rakuten Advertising | 1 April 2021 | NEWS

Im Laufe des ersten Quartals hat Rakuten Advertising einige spannende Produktneuheiten im Affiliate-Bereich hervorgebracht. Ziel ist es, anhand dieser Innovationen eine Steigerung in puncto Transparenz und Leistung zu erzielen – sowohl seitens der Advertiser als auch der Publisher. Heute widmen wir uns den Vorteilen, die unsere neu veröffentlichten Affiliate-Produkte und Updates mit sich bringen.

https://blog.rakutenadvertising.com/de-de/news/...te-produkten-im-q1/
 

UK-Japan digital cooperation on the 5G agenda and beyond

UK-Japan cooperation on the 5G agenda will also help shape the future of global digital cooperation.

24 MARCH 2021

Following a 2019 telecoms supply chain review and the decision in July 2020 to remove Huawei from its 5G network, the UK government released its 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy (SCDS) in November 2020. These policies mark a historic shift in UK telecommunications policy. The key message is that the government will proactively intervene in the telecoms industry to tackle supplier lock-in and incumbent advantages that limit competition.

But there are some promising signs. In Europe, Open RAN is increasingly seen as a realistic option and, since last year, there have been a growing number of trials to secure a high standard of security and resilience across the industry. Alongside its partnership with the UK, NEC will also engage in other trials across Europe, including with Vodafone Ziggo in the Netherlands and Telefonica O2 in Germany. Global collective efforts are gradually taking shape not only between governments but also in the private sector.

https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/03/...peration-5g-agenda-and-beyond  

We like the fact that Rakuten is continuing to experiment with its plans to better meet the needs of its customers

Rakuten Mobile has announced a new plan – Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI – which will be available from 1 April 2021.
The new plan will have a simple fee structure that flexibly adjusts in line with customer data use. Charges will be:

• less than 1Gb of data usage – no charge for first line
• 1-3Gb of data usage – 980 yen
• 3-20Gb of data usage – 1,980 yen for the first line, with the monthly rate determined by the amount of data used each month
• 20Gb+ of data usage – 2,980 yen per month for an unlimited plan.

Customers that have a second line with data usage of less than 3Gb will be charged 980 yen.

Omnisperience view: We like the fact that Rakuten is continuing to experiment with its plans to better meet the needs of its customers. This plan is far more flexible than the traditional approach to telecoms plans, meaning it fits more closely to the changing behaviour of customers. This is important as it avoids many billshock issues for customers, such as when they exceed agreed allowances on their contracts and get stung by overage charges. This plan enables them to consume more or less each month and get charged accordingly. Such an approach also addresses the situation where customers have continual unused data allowances at the end of each month because they opted into a much bigger plan at the start of the contracted period to avoid the possibility of overage charges, which is a cause of customer frustration and churn. There might turn out to be a problem with the boundaries between tiers, as a couple of meg can double the fee, but we’ll have to watch and wait and see how that turns out, as we’re sure Rakuten will do.

https://omnisperience.com/2021/01/29/...-announces-new-flexible-plan/  

Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) is the defacto standard for OpenRAN

"Ligado Networks Moving Forward with L Band Private Networks

BY J. SHARPE SMITH, SENIOR EDITOR
April 2, 2021

Last year was a great year for the Ligado Networks, according to Scott Wiener, Ligado’s chief marketing and strategy officer. In mid-April, it received a unanimous bipartisan approval from the FCC, determining that it can deploy a terrestrial network in the L-band, which is between 1 GHz and 2 GHz.
In October 2020, Ligado Networks announced that it had raised nearly $4 billion in new capital. Led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Ligado secured $3.85 billion from existing and new investors.

“What’s really great about that is we now have the service rules in place, and we know how to put the spectrum to use,” Wiener said in an interview with Mike Dano, Light Reading, during the Competitive Carriers Association’s Mobile Carrier Show in late March. “That is what really brings us to look forward and to be advancing and developing the 5G mobile private network solution.”

This year has started out pretty well, as well, with the signing of an agreement with Rakuten Mobile, to use the Rakuten Communications Platform, which is an end-to-end cloud native, software-centric, open RAN-based mobile network, as the blueprint for Ligado’s 5G mobile private network solution.
The Rakuten agreement is the cornerstone of Ligado’s efforts to create a 5G vendor ecosystem. The companies will work with equipment ecosystem partners and vendors to establish a timeline for the implementation of network trials.

“We think it’s just a great combination, taking Ligado’s licensed spectrum and Rakuten’s open RAN mobile technology,” Wiener said. “We think it’s just a perfect product for the enterprise space, so we are really excited about it.”

https://www.aglmediagroup.com/...orward-with-l-band-private-networks/
 

New innovation powering the internet for the future

Cisco has been working with leading communication service providers and web scale companies including Airtel, Altibox, Eolo, Facebook, Google Cloud, Rakuten Mobile, SFR, Telenor, Telia Carrier, Telstra, Websprix and more to design the building blocks for the ‘Internet for the Future’, delivering greater efficiency, agility and savings gains than ever before.

Cisco Silicon One

With the introduction of its networking silicon architecture, Silicon One in 2019, Cisco offers its customers a unified, programmable silicon architecture designed to improve operational efficiencies and deliver the speed and capacity for the 5G era.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/04/02/cisco-accessible-internet/
 

Cisco unveils gear to cope with increased data traffic for homeworking

Published: March 31, 2021 12:58:15 | Updated: April 02, 2021 09:39:09

Cisco Systems Inc has announced new products to help mobile network operators manage increased data traffic generated by homeworking because of the pandemic and as the 5G rollout connects billions more devices to the internet.

Remote healthcare services, streaming video and gaming and homeworking have led to a 25 per cent-45 per cent increase in internet traffic in many regions across the globe since the COVID-19 pandemic, Cisco said on Tuesday.

And 5G will mean billions more internet-connected devices, reports Reuters.

Cisco says it expects nearly 30 billion connected devices in 2023, compared with 18.4 billion in 2018.
It is proposing an approach to designing the network, open to all systems, and says its new routing gear will help telecom operators to build up high-capacity networks at reduced cost.

It has signed up clients, including Airtel, Google Cloud, Rakuten Mobile, Telenor and Telia Carrier.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/...or-homeworking-1617173895  

 

Cabify to Renew Its Service Portfolio in 2021

By Jorge Ramos Zwanziger | Wed, 03/17/2021 - 17:47

Urban mobility service company Cabify announced a logistics service for parcel shipments purchased electronically to position itself as a technology provider for retail companies. "The pandemic pushed us toward this. It was not super planned; I would love to tell you that but it was not like that," said Verónica Rubio, Head of Country Performance at Cabify to T21. In April 2020, the company launched its Cabify Envíos (Cabify Shipping) service to deliver goods between individuals or companies that were facing challenges because of the COVID-19 crisis. Rubio explained to T21 that this was a lean project, which was done quickly with a small investment. However, given the exponential growth in electronic purchases, Cabify decided to increase its focus in that area. "This is a service that we want to focus on globally, in which we do see a very strong growth potential [...] We know that there is a space for us out there," said Rubio to T21.

Cabify aims to take advantage of the increasing demand for logistic services for online purchases that need to be shipped to buyer’s houses. “The multi-mobility company will perform deliveries from the warehouses or stores of its corporate clients to the buyer's home, as a last-mile service. Cabify has the ability to offer immediate delivery on the same day, the following day and even in less than 2 hours,” said Cabify through a press release.

The delivery service is still in its pilot phase but it plans to start in April 2021 with retail businesses of all sectors and sizes in Spain, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Peru. There is no information concerning Mexico in the press release but Cabify’s communication agency confirmed that the service will be provided in Puebla, Queretaro, Guadalajara and Mexico City, according to T21.

https://mexicobusiness.news/logistics/news/...-service-portfolio-2021
 

Rakuten Ichiba’s GMS (gross merchandise sales) for December last year grew around 50% year on year

Headlining Rakuten Ichiba e-commerce marketplace’s annual merchant conference in January, Rakuten CEO Mickey Mikitani shared learnings from the extraordinary growth of 2020 and perspectives on the future.

“Rakuten Ichiba’s GMS (gross merchandise sales) for December last year grew around 50% year on year,” he reported. “And it’s looking like GMS growth for January will also be tracking at this level.”

Mikitani was candid about the circumstances behind this growth, but maintained that it was more than just a temporary boost. “The coronavirus pandemic has, of course, played a role in this. But I believe that this has brought about a transformation in consumer behavior, which will continue into the future,” he argued. “For example, spend per customer has grown by over 10%, and we’re seeing more and more repeat users as well.”

https://rakuten.today/blog/rakuten-new-year-conference-2021.html