The less bumpy way to ride e-commerce = Rakuten (Seite 467)

[FlankerStan]

More Security with Open RAN

As service providers implement 5G networks, security in all aspects of the network is critical. Open RAN is now being adopted for 4G and 5G networks and will play a big role in these emerging networks. In addition to lower cost and better scalability, Open RAN systems also have several security advantages over a proprietary/closed system due to virtualization/cloud-native security features, a transparent architecture, and a broad partner ecosystem.

The overarching architecture is important, but so are the detailed aspects of the built-in security mechanisms. That is why Altiostar recently jointly published two documents on Open RAN security that provide a comprehensive look into the overall security architecture and specific security mechanisms that are part of Open RAN systems. Both papers were published with other vendors/suppliers in the Open RAN ecosystem.

www.altiostar.com/security-for-open-ran/

[FlankerStan]

Rakuten Communications Platform wants to conquer the world

by Roger Entner |
Mar 1, 2021 12:23pm

Japan’s Rakuten is the first global mobile network operator (MNO) to fully virtualize their networks, with millions of active customers on commercial service. Rakuten has taken their expertise of being a fully virtualized operator to create the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), which packages its vendor portfolio and deployment expertise and markets it to other operators who also want to run their network in the cloud.

Interestingly, the vendor product portfolio that is being sold is more extensive than what Rakuten has chosen to deploy. Based on news reports, Rakuten has already signed up 15 customers on RCP. The first publicly announced RCP trial partner is Ligado.
Based on our research, the RCP universe consists of the following players:

Qualcomm and Intel are also mentioned as RCP participants but apparently are mostly involved as silicon providers for their particular area of expertise.

Rakuten continues to use Innoeye and Altiostar, which it has purchased outright in Innoeye’s case or has an equity investment like Altiostar, for orchestration and open RAN software, respectively. Mavenir continues to supply the IMS/RCS software and Quanta provides the servers.

One of the powerful features of RCP is that an MNO can mix and match from any vendor in the RCP portfolio. If an MNO prefers Nokia or Airspan as their radio vendor, they can use Nokia’s mmWave product for 5G or use Airspan for both mmWave and sub-6 GHz Airspan’s open RAN software or use Altiostar’s software.

Medium-size MNOs and greenfield operators, especially if they are not dependent on vendor financing and the small rural MNOs in the United States who have to replace the Huawei equipment in their network and are collectively paid $1.9 billion to do so are a prime target for RCP. Rakuten’s offering lets MNOs jump to state-of-the-art software-defined networks with open RAN. Software-defined networks are more flexible and cheaper to operate and due to the standardization of hardware, they are less expensive to buy.

Especially the rural operators who are replacing their equipment should invest in the technology of the future, SDN, and open RAN, regardless of whether they choose RCP or a custom route, rather than invest in the past's integrated hardware and software.
For rural MNOs who have to run their network with a lean team, SDN's automation allows the network operation teams to be more efficient and effective.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/operators/rakuten-cloud-platf…

[FlankerStan]

Zwei positive Trends für Rakuten Mobile: APAC mobile services revenue maintain a CAGR of 6.1% between 2020-2025 and average monthly mobile data usage in APAC will increase drastically from 7.7GB in 2020 to about 14.4GB by 2025

GlobalData forecasts APAC mobile services revenue, which declined in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to recover in 2021 and maintain a CAGR of 6.1% between 2020-2025, mainly driven by mobile data service segment.

Aasif Iqbal, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: 'While mobile voice service revenues in APAC will decline at a CAGR of 0.3% over the forecast period as a result of falling voice average revenue per user (ARPU) levels, mobile data service revenue is set to increase at a robust CAGR of 10.1% over 2020-2025 period, supported by the growing adoption of higher ARPU 4G/5G subscriptions in the region.'

The average monthly mobile data usage in APAC will increase drastically from 7.7GB in 2020 to about 14.4GB by 2025, with surge in the consumption of online video and social media applications on the back of data-centric plans promoted by the operators.

For instance, Vodafone and Airtel in India, Telenor and Ooredoo in Myanmar and NTT and Rakuten in Japan have been aggressively investing in LTE network expansion.

Mr Iqbal concludes: 'Similar to all other regions, 5G service deployments by operators and its adoption by users in Asia-Pacific were affected to an extent by the COVID-19 crisis. However, the governments and regulators across many countries in the region are working together to create a favourable business environment to encourage investment and allow operators to rollout and expand 4G/5G services further.'

http://www.publicnow.com/view/760EF12BE4FE8259C45485BB73EE6B…

[harry_limes]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 67.273.821 von FlankerStan am 02.03.21 21:03:14

Hallo FlankerStan,

wirst Du bei der Performance von Rakuten nicht müde zu berichten?

Leider geht es bei Rakuten nie nachhaltig nach oben. Spätestens bei 1,200yen ist Schluss mit lustig - an dieser Marke startet fast traditionell spätestens der Abverkauf. Das Investment bleibt weiterhin maximal frustrierend - am besten man schaut gar nicht hin!

Grüße / Harry

[FlankerStan]

Rakuten ist der größte Eigner von Cabify mit ca. 40%

Cabify makes car-share deal with Wible

March 1, 2021

Ride-hailing app Cabify is to offer a car-share service to its users in Madrid via a deal with car-sharing company Wible.

Reuters reports that Wible's plug-in hybrid vehicles in the Spanish capital will be available to users of the Cabify app for per-minute rental.

Wible's prices start at €0.25 a minute up to €6 an hour and users can go outside of Madrid for €65 a day with 100km included.

The Cabify service is active throughout South America, as well as Spain and the Dominican Republic.

https://www.itsinternational.com/its17/news/cabify-makes-car…

[FlankerStan]

Rakuten bei AST stark vertreten

AST SpaceMobile Announces an Expanded Board of Directors to Join at The Closing of the Business Combination with New Providence Acquisition Corp.

The AST Business Combination was structured to provide adequate funding to build and launch AST SpaceMobile's first phase of 20 production satellites by early 2023. These satellites are expected to initially enable service to equatorial regions, covering 1.6 billion people and begin generating revenue in collaboration with world-class mobile network operators that include one of our founding and strategic technology partners, Vodafone.

AST SpaceMobile's goal, in partnership with existing mobile operators, is to eliminate the connectivity gaps faced by today's 5 billion mobile subscribers and finally bring broadband to approximately half of the world's population who remain unconnected.

Members of the AST SpaceMobile Board of Directors after closing will include:

• Edward Knapp, Chief Technology Officer for American Tower Corporation
• Richard Sarnoff, Partner at Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company ("KKR")
• Ronald Rubin, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Tower Alliance, LLC.
• Julio A. Torres, Managing Partner at Multiple Equilibria Capital
• Alexander Coleman, NPA's Chairman

These leaders will join individuals who currently serve on AST's Board of Directors as directors of AST SpaceMobile, including:

• Abel Avellan, AST's Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
• Thomas Severson, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of AST
• Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rakuten, Inc.
• Tareq Amin, Group Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Rakuten, Inc.
• Luke Ibbetson, Head of Group R&D at Vodafone Group
• Adriana Cisneros, Chief Executive Officer of Cisneros

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ast-spacemobile-ann…

[FlankerStan]

How Mobile Could Change Rakuten

• The stock is trading below working capital

• Rakuten’s mobile segment will boost revenue growth and could easily double its revenue.

• By offering multiple services, it is able to retain consumers within the ecosystem.

Rakuten Inc. (OTC:RKUNY) is a very diversified conglomerate and their operations range from Banking to Travel Services. In the past, it has been able to create an ecosystem for its customers that benefits the company’s operations. Through a loyalty program, through which customers earn loyalty points that can be exchanged for products and services. The company can easily retain its customers, and is able to offer them multiple services.

Rakuten is one of the leading e-commerce platforms, and the japanese e-commerce market is set to continue to rise at 6% until 2022. Rakuten is the also the leading credit card provider in Japan, having recently focused on telecommunication services and is set to shake the Japanese Telecommunication Market.

According to the World Bank, Japan has nearly 180 million mobile subscriptions. For Rakuten to double the revenues it had in 2019, it would require around 35.5 million new mobile subscribers. This is approximately 19.6% of the total addressable market. We can conclude that if Rakuten Mobile manages to capture nearly 20% of the addressable market. If so the company will be able to increase its revenues by at least 100%.

The company has managed to increase revenues and cash flows from operations at a fast pace and since the announcement in 2017, has been deploying capital to expand into mobile. Once the infrastructure is in place, Rakuten will become a more attractive company. By producing much more free cash flow, there is an upside potential in the stock price. The balance sheet currently holds over ¥2,296 Billion in cash and should provide enough safety in the short term until the company completes its mobile infrastructure and unlocks a new revenue stream.

Risks

The main concern with Rakuten has been the debt it has accumulated over the recent years. At the end of the second quarter, the total long term debt amounted to slightly over ¥2,069 Billion. This puts some pressure on the company, as it expands operations. The company has exceeded the expectations deploying 4,738 of the 4,400 initially planned base stations, but had to delay its 5G launch due to COVID-19. It is still unclear what kind of margins Rakuten Mobile will be able to achieve, given that further capex will be needed to complete the network’s infrastructure. It is also dependent on the future customer acquisition costs. Adding to that competitors will eventually change the pricing structure for their plans. In order to be more competitive, and prevent Rakuten from gaining any market share.

Conclusion

With the launch of the Mobile segment, the company is expected to grow revenues at a fast pace. Given the growth prospects, it seems undervalued. Despite the lack of earnings in the past year and a half. The stock offers a compelling growth story at an attractive price for the patient investor. The ecosystem it has created is able to easily retain customers, offering them multiple services. Reducing customer acquisition costs, as it is emphasized by its loyalty program.

It is expected that once the company is able to fully put in place its mobile segment. It will be able to generate a lot more free cash flow and be able to reduce debt, which should benefit long term investors. At the current price, the stock offers enough long-term upside to initiate a position.

https://www.valueofstocks.com/2020/12/25/how-mobile-could-ch…

[FlankerStan]

Obwohl ich eigentlich kein Krypto-Fan bin (von Block-Chain schon)

Rakuten-Kunden können nun Bitcoin beim Einkaufen verwenden

KryptoVor 4 Stunden (01.03.2021 19:05)

Die kryptofreundliche japanische Handelsplattform Rakuten bietet den Nutzern von Rakuten Wallet nun an, für alltägliche Transaktionen Kryptowährungen zu verwenden. Rakuten Wallet ist die Kryptobörsen-Tochter der Plattform.

Laut einer Ankündigung vom 24. Februar können Nutzer ihre Rakuten Pay-Konten nun nahtlos mit ihren Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) und Ether (ETH) aufladen. Rakuten Pay ist eine mobile Bezahl-App, die landesweit im Einsatz ist und von vielen großen und mittleren Händlern unterstützt wird.
Bereits im Jahr 2019 hatte Rakuten angeboten, ihre Rakuten Group-Treuepunkte in Kryptowährungen, wie Bitcoin, umzuwandeln. Jetzt kommt eine weitere Integration hinzu. Die Rakuten Wallet, Rakuten Cash (der E-Geld-Service von Rakuten) und Rakuten Pay werden miteinander verbunden und unterstützen Käufe in Kryptowährung bei Einzelhändlern wie McDonald's, Seiyu und FamilyMart.

https://de.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/rakutenkun…

[FlankerStan]

Das werden m.E. bis zum 7. April mehr als 3 Millionen Subscriber sein - ein cleveres Timing

Applications Close on April 7 for Rakuten Mobile One-Year Free Campaign

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*1 will close on April 7, 2021. Since the announcement of the new Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI service plan, the number of applications for Rakuten UN-LIMIT have grown considerably, and as the number is expected to surpass 3 million soon, the company has decided to close the campaign for new applications on April 7, 2021.

About the new Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI service plan

The Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI service plan is an enhanced version of the Rakuten UN-LIMIT V plan with a simple fee structure that flexibly adjusts in line with customer data use. The new service plan caters to the diverse needs of customers, from light users who consume very little data, to heavy users who don’t want to have to worry about their monthly data use. As with the previous plan, subscribers can use both 4G and 5G services*3, in addition to free domestic calls when using the Rakuten Link communication app*4.

With the new Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI service plan, the monthly rate will be determined by the amount of data used each month. When total monthly data usage is 1GB or less, the fee will be zero yen for a customer’s first line. If the total monthly data usage is between 1GB and 3GB, the fee will be 980 yen, and for total monthly data usage between 3GB and 20GB, the fee will be 1,980 yen for a customer’s first line. Customers whose data usage exceeds 20GB can use unlimited data*5 for 2,980 yen per month. For customers with a second line, total monthly data usage of 3GB or less will be charged at 980 yen.

Current Rakuten UN-LIMIT V customers will be automatically upgraded to Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI on April 1, 2021. New applications made through the Rakuten Mobile official website or in Rakuten Mobile shops from April 1, 2021, and onwards will be for the Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI price plan.

https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2021/03…

[FlankerStan]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 67.237.791 von FlankerStan am 28.02.21 09:56:26

Rakuten ist einer der Eigner von QFPay

Alchemy Pay Teams Up With QFPay to Power Digital Currency Payments For Shopify Merchants
October 12, 2020

Alchemy Pay, a hybrid digital and fiat payment solutions provider, recently announced it will be launching its hybrid fiat and cryptocurrency payment services for e-commerce merchants on Shopify through its new partnership with QFPay, a fiat payments provider with more than 1.2 million merchants.

“Shopify users from countries including UK, US, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and more can now begin to accept nine top digital currencies, namely BTC, ETH, BCH, BNB, BUSD, USDT, GUSD, LTC and ACH – the multifunctional utility token issued by Alchemy.”
While sharing details about the collaboration and launch, Shawn Shi, Alchemy Pay’s Head of Product, stated:

“This launch effectively puts the power of cryptocurrency acceptance in the hands of Shopify eCommerce merchants who serviced over 218 million consumers in 2019. We’re truly excited to see how far this step will propel the cryptocurrency space forward!”

https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2020/10/167855-alchemy-pay-…

Digital payments startup QFPay announced today that it has raised $20 million in new funding led by returning investors Sequoia Capital China and Matrix Partners. MDI Ventures (the investment arm of state-owned Indonesian telecom Telkom Indonesia), Rakuten Capital and VentureSouq also participated as new strategic investors.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/13/wechat-pay-and-alipay-part…