Rakuten Mobile racks up 8 million subscribers

The operator says since its launch it has supplemented its ‘affordable and simple’ Rakuten Saikyo Plan with the launch of 700 MHz spectrum ‘platinum band’ services.

It also notes in September it launched its Saikyo Senior Program aimed at senior citizens in Japan, in which customers ages 65 and over will receive various points-based discounts. This sits alongside its Saikyo Family Program, Saikyo Youth Program and Saikyo Kids Program launched earlier in the year.  

“I am thrilled to announce that Rakuten Mobile has surpassed the 8 million subscriber mark,” said Mickey Mikitani, Chairman, Rakuten Mobile. “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all our incredible customers for making this milestone a reality. Since we launched with the mission to democratize the mobile industry, we have expanded our network nationwide and vastly increased both our network quality and speed.

“Looking ahead, we are committed to further enhancing our network quality and deepening our collaboration with the Rakuten Ecosystem to deliver best-in-class mobile services to customers across Japan, as well as continuing to broaden our service offerings for our enterprise clients."

The firm also shared some recent wins it has had in terms of a market surveys. According to the September 2024 MNO Share and Satisfaction Survey conducted by Mobile Marketing Data Labo, Rakuten was the mobile carrier with the highest increase in usage as a main line, up 1.6 percentage points compared to February 2024. The survey included 33,106 respondents using MNOs on their primary smartphones compared to February 2024.

Rakuten also shared results of some of its own surveying activities. It was apparently ranked first in ‘interest and attention score’ compared to other operators, and when asked about their perception of Rakuten Mobile pricing plans, 48% of respondents to the ‘Rakuten Mobile survey’ found the Rakuten Saikyo Plan ‘attractive’, which is an increase of almost 20% compared to May 2023’s survey, we’re told.

In August, the operator agreed to sell some of its mobile assets to a Macquarie-led group of investors. This will see the consortium acquire a portion of Rakuten's mobile network assets for somewhere in the region of 150 billion-300 billion yen, or US$1 billion-$2 billion, and Rakuten Mobile will continue to operate and manage the network assets through a leaseback element of the deal.