Open RAN pioneer Rakuten Mobile hits 7 Million Subscriber mark

• Largest ever three-month net increase since the launch of Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII; 500,000 subscribers added in just over two months
• High performing Open RAN network recognised by Opensignal as a leader in overall network experience, including 5G upload and download speeds
• Radio frequency testing for the 700 MHz band has started

Rakuten Mobile announced that it reached the 7 million mobile customer milestone on 16th June 2024. These numbers represent some welcome good news after a tumultuous 12 months for the Japanese operator. Despite record revenues in Q1 2024 and falling losses, Rakuten’s mobile division has yet to turn a profit since its launch in 2020.

Last year also saw the departure of its charismatic CEO Tariq Amin amid a re-organisation of the leadership teams at both Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony. More recently, Rakuten Symphony has pivoted away from selling services to mobile operators amid a pessimistic outlook for the global RAN market. Indeed, Delloro recently revised its 2024 RAN forecast down; it now expects to see a 5% to 8% decline in 2024.

According to its press release, Rakuten Mobile added 500,000 subscribers in just over 2 months. This marks its largest quarterly increase since the launch of the new Rakuten UN-LIMIT plan. Rakuten Mobile is targeting 8 million subscribers – and profitability – by the end of 2024.

Rakuten Mobile draws a lot of interest due to its early adoption and promotion of Open RAN but within the wider context of the Japanese mobile market it is still a relatively small player. For context the top 3 carriers in Japan as of March 2024 are NTT DOCOMO with 89,939,800 subscribers, KDDI with 67,807,800 and Softbank with 54,678,800.

That said, Rakuten Mobile’s network is already one of the highest performing in Japan according to a recent Opensignal market performance insight where they led in five network performance areas, including 5G upload and download speeds. 

Building on this success, Rakuten Mobile also announced that it has started radio frequency testing for the 700 MHz spectrum, also known as the “platinum” band. This is because of the high capacity throughput the n28 band affords. The band is highly valued by mobile operators for its excellent range and building penetration. The company aims to roll out commercial services using the 700 MHz band on its own base stations, starting with urban areas.