Rakuten Mobile
Rakuten Crimson House, the headquarters of the company in Setagaya, Tokyo | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 10 January 2018 |
| Headquarters | Rakuten Crimson House, 1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo , Japan |
Area served | Japan |
Key people |
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| Products | |
Number of employees | Approximately 4,800 (2024) |
| Parent | Rakuten Group, Inc. |
| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | corp |
| Footnotes / references [1] [4] | |
Rakuten Mobile, Inc. (commonly known as Rakuten Mobile) is a Japanese mobile network operator (MNO) headquartered in Setagaya, Tokyo. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese technology conglomerate Rakuten Group. Rakuten Mobile operates nationwide 4G and 5G mobile telecommunications networks in Japan.
The company entered the Japanese mobile carrier market as the country's fourth major mobile network operator, competing with NTT Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank Group. Rakuten Mobile is known for deploying a cloud-native mobile network architecture based on Open RAN technology.
Rakuten Mobile launched commercial 4G services in April 2020 and introduced 5G services later that year. The company has continued expanding network coverage across Japan while promoting a low-cost pricing model integrated with Rakuten's broader digital ecosystem.
History
Rakuten Mobile was founded in January 2018 in Tokyo.
Rakuten Mobile and German telecommunications company 1&1 launched a mobile network based on Open RAN technology in December 2023. [5]
Services
LTE (4G)
Rakuten Mobile launched its cellular service in Japan (which was LTE) in April 2020 and with this, it became the 4th telecom operator in the country.[6]
5G
Rakuten mobile started rolling out its 5G service in October 2020 in selected regions of Japan.[7]
References
- ^ "Rakuten tips Tepco tie-up to tap into mobile business". TeleGeography. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Rakuten mobile network to launch Oct-19; revises target to 10m subscribers". TeleGeography. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "Rakuten Mobile hits 96% population coverage in Japan". Fierce Wireless. 20 April 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
- ^ "The risky new way of building mobile broadband networks, explained by Rakuten Mobile CEO Tareq Amin". The Verge. 9 August 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ Kharpal, Arjun (8 December 2023). "Rakuten makes first mobile foray into Europe as Japanese tech giant grapples with debt overhang". CNBC. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
- ^ "Rakuten Mobile launches low-cost mobile plans in Japan". TeleGeography. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
- ^ "Rakuten Mobile launches 5G in a number of regions; more to follow". TeleGeography. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2023.