Rakuten wesentlich besser als Rocket

3.10. Rakuten: a case study in 5G-era cost optimisation

Rakuten is positioning to disrupt the mature Japanese mobile market with its preparations to launch a greenfield 4G/5G network in October 2019. As an innovative and highly successful e-commerce platform with 103 million members in Japan, Rakuten sees significant revenue synergies between telecoms and online retail.

Rakuten’s near-completion of a legacy-free, low-cost, cloud-native, fully virtualised and highly automated mobile network is what makes it very interesting.

Rakuten’s vendor ecosystem includes a mix of established players such as Cisco, Intel, NEC/Netcracker, Ciena, Fujitsu and Qualcomm, as well as challengers such as Mavenir and Altiostar, which specialise in RAN virtualisation. Nokia will provide its RRUs and some Core network elements. Notably, Ericsson, Huawei and Samsung are absent from this list.

Rakuten’s ambition to build the world’s most modern, yet one of the lowest-cost 4G/5G mobile networks is now on public record. Having first secured 4G spectrum in April 2018, Rakuten was also awarded 5G spectrum in April 2019, including 100MHz in the 3.7GHz band and 400MHz in the 28MHz bands. Rakuten then announced that its additional cumulative CapEx on its mobile network in the period to March 2025 will be JPY 200bn (US$1.9bn). US$2bn does not feel like a lot of (CapEx) money to build a greenfield mobile network in a country such as Japan with 127 million people, even with the additional OpEx bill which adds to overall network TCO. Rakuten is clearly taking full advantage of the latest networking and IT technologies – as well as the intense competition among technology vendors – unburdened by legacy infrastructure in the way so many of its peers are.

There are recent reports that Rakuten’s network rollout is slower than anticipated, and as a result its October 2019 launch may be smaller than planned]. So whether Rakuten’s highly-ambitious, pioneering approach will be a commercial success remains to be seen. Rakuten’s sought to boost its chances of success with its appointment of CTO Tareq Amin, who helped build Reliance Jio’s rapidly growing and highly disruptive Indian operation.

https://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks/wiki/...e-network-cost-evolution/

 

das hier verkauft wird. Es passt aber vermutlich nicht zur Gesamtstrategie, da es mit anderen Unternehmensteilen - bis auf Rakuten Kobo - nur wenig vernetzbar ist. Das war beim Verkauf eines Dating-Portals vor einigen Monaten ähnlich.

Announcement of Agreement Regarding Transfer of All Shares of OverDrive Holdings, Inc.

Rakuten, Inc. (Chairman and CEO: Hiroshi Mikitani, hereinafter “the Company”) announces that today Rakuten USA, Inc., a wholly-owned, direct subsidiary of the Company (hereinafter the “Seller”) has concluded a stock purchase agreement (hereinafter the “Agreement”) with Aragorn Parent Corporation (Representative: Richard Sarnoff, hereinafter the “Purchaser”) under which all shares of OverDrive Holdings, Inc. (hereinafter “OverDrive Holdings” and, together with its subsidiaries, “OverDrive”) indirectly held by the Company and directly held by the Seller will be sold and transferred to the Purchaser.

https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2019/...category=corp%20ir
 

aus diesem Verkauf macht, hat man den Einstandspreis von 410 Millionen in 4 bis 5 Jahren fast verdoppelt, was sicher nicht schlecht ist. Der zufließende Betrag dürfte dann ca. 800 Millionen Dollar betragen, wenn Overdrive nach wie vor mit dem Einstandspreis in der Bilanz steht. Der Mittelzufluss kann aber auch höher sein, wenn inzwischen eine Höherbewertung von Overdrive erfolgt ist - und auch der Gewinn gegenüber dem Einstandspreis würde sich dann noch erhöhen.

KKR to buy digital-library platform Overdrive from RakutenPrivate-equity firm KKR & Co. Inc. KKR, -0.14% announced

Tuesday afternoon that it has agreed to acquire Overdrive, which helps libraries and schools deliver digital content to users, from Rakuten Inc. jp:4775. The two sides did not provide a price tag for the Ohio-based property, which Rakuten purchased for $410 million in 2015 , but Rakuten said it would recognize about $365.6 million in profit from the sale in the first quarter of 2020. KKR said that Overdrive serves 43,000 libraries and schools in 75 countries, and that it will use money from the KKR Americas XII Fund for the investment. "OverDrive provides digital tools and services to libraries and schools so that they can lend the widest variety of digital books, audiobooks, and other materials, while at the same time respecting and compensating authors and publishers through the widest range of access models," KKR Member Richard Sarnoff said in Tuesday's announcement.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/...platform-overdrive-from-rakuten-  

dass heute die Börse in Tokio mit einem Kursverlust von 2% darauf reagiert hat. Denkbar ist, dass das einige so interpretiert haben, dass Rakuten anfangen müsse, Teile seines Tafelsilbers zu verkaufen.

Wenn man in der Kategorie "Nützlichkeit für das Ökosystem" denkt und dies als wichtiges Unternehmensziel sieht, macht aber der Verkauf m.E. absolut Sinn.  

Verkaufsmotiv bestätigt:

"It intended to make Rakuten Kobo Inc., a unit selling e-books to individuals, to collaborate with OverDrive, but apparently failed to achieve significant coordination effects.

Rakuten said it decided on the sale as part of its efforts to optimize the allocation of the Rakuten group's management resources."

https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2019122500425/...ribution-unit.html
 

Aura’s platform is web-based to allow business employees to go online and present loan options to customers. According to Gutierrez, Aura’s distribution points are businesses that serve people with a range of credit scores, including supermarkets, tax preparation services, auto insurance providers, money remittance providers and, in some cases, banks. The company’s products are sold at 1,250 physical distribution points in California, Texas, Illinois and Arizona.  Gutierrez said many of its customers pay back their loans in person, offering opportunities for repeat business for the brick-and-mortar merchants. The businesses also get a cut of the revenue from the loans.

Aura’s loans typically have terms between six and 36 months. According to Guitierrez, the average loan is about $1,600 and the average interest rate is between 33% and 34%, with the highest capped at 36%. Unlike payday lenders, Aura said it doesn’t trap customers with refinancing or rollover fees, and the company reports to the credit bureaus so customers can build their credit scores. According to a company statement, the average Aura borrower has an annual income of $36,000.

Aura uses money from investors to fund its loans, and the investors get paid back before Aura can generate revenue from the loans. Investors can be individual people or companies, but they must be accredited. They can choose between three levels of risk pools and are paid back based on the loss rates of those collective groups of borrowers. The company has funded more than 362,000 loans to date.

https://bankinnovation.net/allposts/biz-lines/...-to-the-underbanked/
 

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https://services.fr.shopping.rakuten.com/en/services/rakuten-ads/

 

und wo im Gegensatz zu Overdrive ein Festhalten an der Beteiligung auch Sinn macht, da man hier am privaten Endkunden dran ist, der für das Ecosystem positive Beiträge leisten kann - z.B. weil man im nächsten Altersschritt bei Rakuten Kobo landen kann - oder bei Rakuten TV, Rakuten Viki, Rakuten Viber u.a.

Epic! Is Quickly Becoming the Most Popular App For Parents — It Promotes Positive Screen Time
22 October 2019 by REBECCA BROWN

Monitoring our children's screen time and determining whether or not they're actually learning from devices are issues that continue to weigh on parents. But we all know there's a difference between good screen time and bad screen time, it just requires a little bit of research on the parents' side to find out what those valuable — and entertaining — options are. A popular app called Epic! is making it easier than ever for families to provide healthy digital opportunities to their kids and it's really picking up steam.

What is Epic! Digital Library?
It's an app chock-full of digital titles geared toward kids 12 and under. Children will get unlimited access to a world where they can learn and discover through books. Epic! is $7.99 a month is personalized so kids get recommendations based on their reading level and interest.

What Does Epic! Offer?
Children will have access to 35,000 of the best books available, learning videos, quizzes, and more, with additional resources made available to educators.

https://www.popsugar.co.uk/parenting/...mp;utm_source=www.getepic.com  

Enjoy a community of more than 2 million of Club Rakuten members, the most generous loyalty program in France, and offer Rakuten Super Point discounts to be more competitive.

A unique loyalty program

The Club Rakuten is the most generous loyalty program in France with operations up to 20% discount in Rakuten Super Point. It gathers a great community of more than 1.5 million members.

These Club members cumulate Rakuten Super Points with each purchase and can spend it from the next purchase on all platforms of our ecosystem.

https://services.fr.shopping.rakuten.com/en/...s/rakuten-super-point/
 

ist die spannende Frage:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelleevans1/2019/...ast/#1b26b171e3cd

Das ist schwer einzuschätzen, aber meines Erachtens mehr als 10% auf einer nach oben für mich offenen Skala.  

https://ikajo.com/blog/six-cross-border-e-commerce-trends-2020  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp4w7iU6piI

Ich würde Euch empfehlen die vorhandene Untertitelfunktion einzuschalten, da man dann m.E. dem doch relativ schnellen Redefluss besser folgen kann.  

dass bisher im Kurs m.E. nur die Risiken eingepreist sind, die durch die Investitionen entstanden und entstehen (und ohne Kapitalerhöhung gestemmt wurden und gestemmt werden sollen), aber nicht die entstehenden Chancen in Japan und eventuell sogar weltweit.  

gegen Amazon im Ecommerce hat:

https://www.shopanbieter.de/...beitrag-erstickt-amazon-an-sich-selbst  

https://etailment.de/news/stories/...-Amazon-zunehmend-kritisch-22664  

den Vorteil, dass man mit Rakuten Viber einen eigenen Messenger im Verbund hat - auch wenn der lt nachstehendem Text  in Deutschland "nur" 2,4  Millionen täglich aktive User hat:

"Unternehmen und ihre Profile haben bei Viber einen entscheidenden Vorteil gegenüber anderen Messengern: Über den Discover Bereich können Viber-Nutzer Unternehmen mit ihren Channels suchen und abonnieren. Mit 1-2 Cent pro Empfänger nutzen Firmen wie WWF oder Tech Talk diese Plattform, um über 2,4 Mio. täglich aktive Nutzer in Deutschland zu erreichen.

https://www.messengerpeople.com/de/...ng-apps-brands-viber-messenger/
 

Amazon:

https://www.rakuten.de/club

Es hat zwar im Videobereich und bei den Versandspesen weniger zu bieten als Amazon Prime, aber man dann damit mehr Punkte sammeln, die man bei Einkäufen und Diensten einsetzen kann - und vor allem ist es kostenlos.  

services will one day be offered

Swedish startup Netrounds is the latest vendor to partner with Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile, which aims to produce the world’s first fully cloud-native, virtualized mobile network. Netrounds offers software that can run in either a virtual machine or container, testing and monitoring active network services, including virtual private networks (VPNs) and software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WANs). Netrounds agents are programmable, and they can be integrated with AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. The fact that Netrounds agents can function in containers is vital to Rakuten. “The dream of where I want to push my team and everybody is to move into a fully completely microservices containerized architecture,” said Tareq Amin, CTO, Rakuten Mobile, in a recent interview. Virtualization is a good start, he said, but not “good enough to where we want to be.”

Partnering with Rakuten Mobile is a rite of passage for many suppliers interested in provisioning 5G networks in the future. Just ask any of the vendors on the lengthening list that includes Allot, Altiostar, Ciena, Cisco, Innoeye, Intel, Mavenir, NEC, Netcracker, Nokia, OKI, Qualcomm, Quanta, NEC, Red Hat, Tech Mahindra, Viavi, among others.

Rakuten Mobile originally planned to go live with 4G LTE services October 1, 2019, with roaming provided through deals with KDDI Corporation and Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company that would carry through 2026. In September, the provider unveiled a lottery for up to 5,000 "Free Supporters," offering free voice and data on the virtualized network through March 2020.
But so far, the commercial rollout is stalled, and Rakuten Mobile is taking operating losses while it continues to obtain 4G licensing and other aspects of its contracted facilities.

The delay isn't surprising. Industry-watchers were perplexed to hear Rakuten Mobile boast a one-year rollout plan to begin with. And it's likely to take even longer to produce virtualized 5G services, as infrastructure to support it will take time.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Mobile's partnership list continues to grow, and with it, supposedly, the promise of a mini-revolution in how mobile services will one day be offered.

https://www.futuriom.com/articles/news/...n-rakuten-bandwagon/2019/11  

Donnerstag, 19.12.2019   10:54 Uhr

Daimler und BMW geben ihren Carsharing-Dienst ShareNow in Nordamerika auf. Das im Februar aus den Marken Car2Go und DriveNow entstandene Gemeinschaftsunternehmen der deutschen Autokonzerne gab den Schritt auf seiner Website bekannt. Die Entscheidung gilt demnach ab Ende Februar 2020.

Grund für den Rückzug aus Nordamerika seien "extrem schwierige Realitäten", erklärte das Unternehmen in einer Mitteilung. So entwickle sich der von starkem Wettbewerb geprägte Markt für Mobilitätsdienste rapide, zudem stiegen die Betriebskosten und es fehle an Infrastruktur für Elektroautos. In den USA und Kanada war das Angebot zuletzt in New York City, Montreal, Seattle, Washington DC und Vancouver vertreten.

https://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/...nordamerika-auf-a-1302052.html
 

GM Scales Back Maven Car-Sharing Business

Maven is latest example of a traditional car maker facing challenges while moving into new transportation ventures

Updated May 20, 2019 6:56 pm ET

General Motors Co. said it will wind down its Maven car-sharing service in eight of its 17 North-American cities, becoming the latest car maker to face challenges in expanding into new transportation ventures.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/...-17-north-american-cities-11558382917
 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/10/18177378/...ttle-microtransit-ford  

E-Commerce-Gigant lässt User Treuepunkte gegen Kryptowährungen eintauschen

Von
Memo Özbek

26. Dezember 2019

https://decentralbox.com/...unkte-gegen-kryptowaehrungen-eintauschen/
 

https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/...-von-lyft-weltweit/  

6 billion revenues in 2020 are by a market-cap of 14 billion only 2.3-times-revenues.

Compare this low number with other techs.  

of GM, Ford and BMW/Mercedes is: Competition of Uber and Lyft has not any chance