Selected as a partner payment provider for "Rakuten Pay" and "Tokyo Metropolitan Government Official App (Tokyo App)"

October 14, 2025

Rakuten Payment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rakuten Payment") hereby announces that Rakuten Payment and Rakuten Edy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rakuten Edy") have been selected as the partner payment providers for the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government Official App (Tokyo App)", and from October 20, 2025 (Monday), "Rakuten Cash" is available for selection.

https://payment.rakuten.co.jp/news/2025101401/
 

Rakuten Symphonys 5G-Pilotprojekt mit BSNL und Pläne zum Export

October 13, 2025

Rakuten Symphony bereitet sich auf ein 5G-Pilotprojekt mit dem staatlichen indischen Mobilfunkanbieter BSNL vor. Dies ist ein wichtiger Schritt in der Zusammenarbeit mit indischen Technologiepartnern. Sharad Sriwastawa, Co-CEO von Rakuten Mobile, berichtet über die enge Zusammenarbeit des Unternehmens mit indischen Anbietern wie Tejas Networks im Bereich Funk- und Kernhardware und die Erwartung, indische Telekommunikationsgeräte in Japan einzusetzen, sobald diese strenge Qualitätsstandards erfüllen. Sehen Sie sich dieses Interview am Rande des India Mobile Congress an und erfahren Sie, wie Rakuten Symphony die indisch-japanische Telekommunikationszusammenarbeit fördert und Innovationen in der 5G-Infrastruktur vorantreibt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI0Pyh-A49o
 

Exclusive-Japan's Rakuten weighing US IPO of credit card business, sources say

Story by Miho Uranaka and Sam Nussey
1h

Japanese e-commerce and finance heavyweight Rakuten is weighing an initial public offering in the United States of its credit card business, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Rakuten began considering a potential U.S. listing of one of Japan's largest credit card businesses last month, the sources said. The considerations are in the early stages, with other potential options including a stake sale to a strategic buyer, one of the sources said.

Rakuten Card has issued more than 30 million credit cards in Japan. Non-GAAP operating profit at the business grew 20% to 62 billion yen last year but fell 4.5% in the April-June quarter of this year compared to the same period a year earlier due to higher costs.

Rakuten Card aims to expand profit to 100 billion yen over the medium term and is looking to expand its business with corporate customers, its CEO Koichi Nakamura said in March.

Rakuten Card has issued more than 30 million credit cards in Japan. Non-GAAP operating profit at the business grew 20% to 62 billion yen last year but fell 4.5% in the April-June quarter of this year compared to the same period a year earlier due to higher costs.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/...-sources-say/ar-AA1OuJhk
 

extreme Unterbewertung des Yen auf, die seit 2020 entstanden. Durch unterschiedliche Inflationsraten lässt sich diese Entwicklung nicht erklären, vielmehr dürfte im Schnitt der letzen fünf Jahre die Inflation in Japan sogar niedriger gewesen zu sein.

https://de.tradingeconomics.com/japan/currency

Langfristig wird sich daher m.E. diese Entwicklung des Yens nicht fortsetzen, was immer uns momentan so manche Prognostiker für Märchen erzählt.  

Rakuten erwägt US-Börsengang seiner Kreditkartensparte

Veröffentlicht am 15.10.2025

Die Mizuho Financial Group hatte im vergangenen Jahr einen Anteil von 15 Prozent an Rakuten Card für 165 Milliarden Yen (1,1 Milliarden US-Dollar) erworben. Damit wurde das Geschäft mit mehr als 1 Billion Yen oder rund 7 Milliarden US-Dollar bewertet. Beide Unternehmen haben gemeinsam Kreditkarten eingeführt.

Für PayPay sehen institutionelle Investoren eine Mindestbewertung von 2 Billionen Yen, rechnen aber laut einem aktuellen Reuters-Bericht damit, dass der Wert beim Börsengang, der bereits im Dezember stattfinden könnte, 3 Billionen Yen übersteigen könnte.

https://de.marketscreener.com/boerse-nachrichten/...-ce7d5adedc88f62d
 

PayPay valuation could exceed $20 billion in planned December U.S. IPO, sources say: Reuters

Investors expect the valuation of PayPay could exceed 3 trillion yen ($20 billion) as SoftBank prepares for an initial public offering of the Japanese payments app operator in the United States as early as December, according to two sources.

SoftBank has been meeting with institutional investors since mid-September to discuss potential valuations in the IPO, the sources, who are familiar with the matter, said.

Investors see 2 trillion yen as a baseline but expect the valuation could top 3 trillion yen, according to the sources.

The potential valuation and the views of investors are being reported by Reuters for the first time. PayPay declined to comment.

https://www.bing.com/...;FORM=ANAB01&adppc=EDGEDSP&PC=EDGEDSP
 

"Rakuten Pay" and "Rakuten Edy" participate in the up to 20% reduction campaign conducted by Niiza City, Saitama Prefecture

Rakuten Payment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rakuten Payment") is pleased to announce that it will participate in the "Niiza City Cashless Payment Point Redemption Project Vol. 4" campaign to be held by Niiza City, Saitama Prefecture from October 16 (Thursday) to November 30 (Sunday), 2025, on the cashless payment service "Rakuten Pay" and the IC-type electronic money "Rakuten Edy".

https://payment.rakuten.co.jp/news/2025101500/
 

Prediction: AST SpaceMobile Could Soar Over the Next 5 Years. Here's 1 Reason Why.

Wed, October 15, 2025

Key Points

AST SpaceMobile is building a satellite-to-smartphone broadband network.

The company plans to have as many as 60 satellites in orbit by 2026.

ASTS stock has skyrocketed over the past three years, but it could soar even higher if it can commercialize its technology.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...acemobile-could-soar-140200373.html

 

By Joseph Waring

October 16, 2025

Rakuten Symphony joined the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), supporting the software company’s mission to deliver high-quality connectivity with faster times to market at lower cost.

Rakuten Symphony was set up to export Rakuten Mobile’s software-based model to markets outside Japan.

https://www.mobileworldlive.com/rakuten/...2520at%2520lower%2520cost.
 

Rakuten Card sets ambitions profit goal in B2B payments

Rakuten Card aims to nearly double its annual operating profit to 100 billion yen ($663.7 million) in the medium term. This ambitious goal is part of its strategy to penetrate the largely untapped business-to business payments market, given the current digitalization surge in Japan's financial services. Despite Japan's declining population impacting various sectors of the domestic economy, the credit card and payments industry remains a rare growth area. Rakuten Card, a fully online entity under the Rakuten Group umbrella, has capitalized on this trend, issuing over 30 million credit cards—the highest in Japan. The company reported an operating profit of 62.1 billion yen in 2024, marking a more than 20% increase from 2023. Rakuten Card's new CEO, Koichi Nakamura, highlighted the potential for growth in this sector, given the current digitalization surge in Japan's financial services. Rakuten Card's strategy involves leveraging its existing relationships with small- and medium-sized enterprises that operate on its Ichiba e-commerce platform, offering them credit card services. For larger corporations, Rakuten plans to utilize the client base of its business and capital alliance partner, Mizuho Financial Group. Rakuten Card aims to double its profit by expanding into B2B payments, capitalizing on digitalization in Japan's financial services.

ttps://www.bing.com/...ACAQ&FORM=ANAB01&adppc=EDGEDSP&PC=EDGEDSP
 

Curating our best posts on using AI to automate mobile networks

By Dewa Siswanto, Senior Director of Product Operations, OSS
October 15, 2025

Telco interest in automating mobile network operations is growing as early efforts result in streamlined processes, better customer service and reduced costs. However, reaching the ultimate automation goal of network autonomy can take several years and may seem overwhelming without a framework and a knowledge of AI-based tools that can help.  

To help its operator customers achieve higher levels of network automation, Rakuten Symphony and Rakuten Mobile are working together to document 25 AI use cases and tools that can inspire mobile operators as they engage in their own automation efforts.

We aligned these use cases with the TM Forum’s six-stage network taxonomy to provide structure for operators that are moving toward network autonomy. This taxonomy starts at level zero (no automation) and goes to level five (fully autonomous). These AI use cases have helped the Rakuten Mobile network to get to network autonomy level 3.5 – between conditional automation and AI assisted automation.  

We’ve taken snippets of the best posts on AI use cases and curated them here for easy access.

Software development life cycle tool

With the growing popularity of Open RAN, telco cloud and virtualization initiatives, service providers have an increased need to manage software development life cycles (SDLC) for a wide range of network functions. Rakuten Symphony’s AI-based SDLC software (AI-SDLC) is a chat-based generative AI module that helps users perform the full range of SDLC tasks, starting with business case development and finishing with code quality assurance and all processes in between.  

The tool can be used by product managers, business analysts, user interface/experience designers, software developers, quality assurance and release managers who contribute to the SDLC process. The SDLC tool reduces the time and cost of SDLC by providing real-time responses to data inputs, immediately notifying team members of errors and correcting them. With this AI-based tool, there is greater process consistency due to 95% accuracy in generating SDLC artifacts for engineering, as well as a 40% increase in process efficiency when using the tool.  

Capacity forecasting and management use case

Capacity management for MNOs ensures the network infrastructure has capacity to handle data throughput for today’s users and has the scalability to handle expanded future workloads. Without an AI model, network engineers use a rule-based approach to capacity where alarms are triggered when the network capacity needs adjustment. This approach is not very accurate and can lead to capacity issues that persist until an engineer can analyze the issue and respond.

The Rakuten Symphony Capacity Forecasting AI Model predicts future traffic, users, physical resource blocks (PRB) and capacity using machine learning, historical data and deep learning algorithms.
Network performance anomaly detection use case

Rakuten Symphony’s Network Performance Anomaly Detection use case uses AI/ML to automate the monitoring of network performance KPIs to identify unusual patterns in the performance. Many MNOs still identify network problems manually, which is time-consuming and has a long issue resolution time. Now, MNOs can use these KPIs as detectors to identify and catch problems early and help improve quality of services.

Site selection image recognition use case

At the start of site construction, the field engineer is responsible for receiving the technology and materials – from construction materials to equipment cabinets, to RAN systems and more. All of this equipment must be accounted for to keep the build out on track and also added to inventory so that the MNO has a record of its equipment.

The Site Selection Image Recognition use case brings order to this complex process by automating the process using the Rakuten Site Manager solution suite with AI enhancements. With Rakuten Site Manager, the field engineer has a tool to complete their equipment installation task/checklist and upload the pictures of the installed equipment as proof. This checklist will be later submitted to the supervisor who will verify it based on the pictures attached to determine whether or not the installation, checklist/test case is correct. 

Process mining use case

Building out a cell site is a complex endeavor with highly detailed processes, critical dependencies, multiple vendors, deadlines, equipment and more. Managing the build out and ongoing operation of these sites is a great challenge for process mining AI initiative that is built into our Rakuten Site Manager software.

With Rakuten Site Manager’s AI capability, users can gain a detailed overview of the site project’s performance, pinpoint areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to ensure the project is completed successfully and on time. It aims to guarantee a 100% completion rate within the designated timeframe, with proactive notifications about program progress and timely resolution of any issues that arise during implementation.

Interested in more use cases that can help your network? See how Rakuten AI for Telecom can help your network become more autonomous.

https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...g-ai-to-automate-mobile-networks
 

Perfect for Lazy Sundays: Rakuten Kobo Launches Hands-Free Remote for S$49.90 in Singapore
Flip pages with a click

October 14, 2025 A New Chapter in Comfortable Reading

The brand has unveiled the Kobo Remote, a sleek wireless page turner designed for hands-free reading comfort. Priced at S$49.90, the device will be available both online and in stores across Singapore from 4 November 2025.

Perfect for lounging on the sofa, reading in bed, or catching up on your latest novel over coffee, the Kobo Remote connects effortlessly to Kobo’s Bluetooth-enabled eReaders. Its long-lasting battery and simple two-button design let readers enjoy uninterrupted sessions, one gentle click at a time.

s Kobo’s first-ever wireless remote page turner, the Kobo Remote embodies the brand’s dedication to making reading more intuitive and relaxing. It features an ergonomic shape for easy one-handed use, available in Black and White finishes that match Kobo’s minimalist aesthetic.

https://www.greatdeals.com.sg/2025/10/14/...04%2520November%25202025.
 

is a lot higher than the finance activities of Softbank.

The Bull Case For SoftBank Group (TSE:9984) Could Change Following PayPay IPO and Crypto Push - Learn Why

Fri, October 17, 2025

In this article:

Recent reports indicate SoftBank Group is preparing for a potential US initial public offering of its payment app PayPay, with a possible valuation above ¥3 trillion (US$20 billion), alongside a 40% stake acquisition in Binance's Japanese business to expand crypto services.

This has prompted renewed industry focus on SoftBank's growing fintech ambitions, with peers like Rakuten reportedly weighing similar moves in response.

We'll explore how speculation surrounding PayPay's IPO and SoftBank's push into fintech could shift the company's investment narrative.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/...e-softbank-group-tse-161729800.html

 

October 13, 2025

The telecommunications landscape in India is poised for a transformative leap as Rakuten Symphony, the telecom arm of Japan’s Rakuten Group, has announced a strategic partnership with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to launch a 5G pilot project. This collaboration, revealed during the India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025, not only strengthens India’s push for indigenous 5G technology but also signals a groundbreaking move to export Indian-made telecom equipment to Japan. Here’s an in-depth exploration of this partnership, its implications, and its role in shaping the future of telecom in India and beyond.

Background: Rakuten Symphony and BSNL
Rakuten Symphony: A Pioneer in Open RAN

Rakuten Symphony, a subsidiary of Rakuten Group, is a global leader in cloud-native, Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology. Unlike traditional telecom networks that rely on proprietary hardware from vendors like Nokia or Ericsson, Open RAN allows operators to mix and match interoperable hardware and software from multiple vendors. This approach reduces costs, enhances flexibility, and accelerates innovation. Rakuten’s own 4G and 5G networks in Japan, built entirely on Open RAN, serve as a proof of concept for this disruptive model.

Rakuten Symphony has been aggressively expanding its footprint, offering end-to-end solutions for telecom operators worldwide. Its portfolio includes virtualized radio access networks (vRAN), cloud-native core networks, and AI-driven automation tools, making it a key player in the global 5G rollout.
BSNL: India’s State-Owned Telecom Giant

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India’s state-run telecom operator, has been working to regain its competitive edge in a market dominated by private players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. With a vast network of over 100,000 4G towers and plans to upgrade to 5G within eight months, BSNL is leveraging government support and the “Make in India” initiative to deploy homegrown telecom solutions. BSNL’s focus on indigenous technology aligns with India’s broader goal of reducing dependence on foreign equipment and fostering local innovation.
________________________________________
The Partnership: Key Details
Announcement and Scope

On October 13, 2025, Rakuten Symphony and BSNL unveiled their collaboration to conduct a 5G pilot in India, focusing on deploying Indian-manufactured telecom gear. The pilot will test Rakuten’s Open RAN-based 5G solutions integrated with equipment from Indian vendors such as HFCL and Tejas Networks. Additionally, Rakuten has committed to using this Indian-made gear in its own networks in Japan, marking a significant milestone for India’s telecom manufacturing sector.

The partnership was formalized during IMC 2025, a premier telecom event in New Delhi, where industry leaders gathered to discuss 5G, 6G, AI, and satellite communications. The pilot is expected to pave the way for a broader rollout of 5G services across BSNL’s network, which serves millions of subscribers, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas.

Objectives of the Pilot
Testing Indigenous 5G Equipment: The project will evaluate the performance, scalability, and reliability of Indian-made 5G gear in real-world conditions.
Open RAN Integration: Rakuten’s expertise in Open RAN will help BSNL deploy a cost-effective, flexible 5G network that reduces reliance on traditional vendors.
Export Opportunities: By deploying Indian equipment in Japan, Rakuten aims to showcase the global competitiveness of India’s telecom manufacturing.
Accelerating 5G Rollout: The pilot aligns with BSNL’s goal to upgrade all 4G towers to 5G by mid-2026, enhancing nationwide connectivity.

Key Players Involved
Rakuten Symphony: Provides Open RAN software, cloud-native platforms, and technical expertise.
BSNL: Supplies network infrastructure and local market knowledge.
Indian Vendors (HFCL, Tejas Networks): Contribute domestically produced 5G equipment, including radios and antennas.
Government of India: Supports the initiative through policies like “Make in India” and funding for indigenous R&D.

https://telecominfra.blogspot.com/2025/10/...d-bsnls-5g-pilot-in.html
 

Japan gets highest-yielding yen bond this year with Rakuten deal

Rakuten Group priced a local bond at the year’s highest coupon of 4.691%, which helped build a strong order book driven particularly by overseas investors. The deal gave Japan’s credit market the clearest sign yet of the impact of rising government bond yields on corporate borrowing costs.

The company sold a ¥82 billion ($546 million) perpetual subordinated bond, which is callable after five years at a spread of 350 basis points over Japanese government bonds. Total demand topped ¥500 billion, including more than ¥120 billion from overseas investors, according to lead manager Daiwa Securities.

The company, long reliant on offshore markets, is regaining access to Japan’s local credit market as its mobile unit shows signs of improvement.

In September, both Japan Credit Rating Agency and Rating and Investment Information revised their outlook on Rakuten to stable from negative.

Rakuten’s pricing at the low end of guidance and its ability to issue perpetual notes, despite a record-high coupon this year, signal improving funding access, according to Sharon Chen, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. The company now has enough funds to cover bond maturities through 2026, she said.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2025/10/17/...d-highest-coupon/
 

The Rakuten-BSNL pilot is expected to yield initial results by Q1 2026, with insights shaping BSNL’s nationwide 5G rollout.

Key milestones to watch include:

Pilot Outcomes: Performance data on Indian equipment and Open RAN integration.

Export Contracts: Confirmation of Indian gear deployment in Japan’s Rakuten network.

Policy Support: Additional government incentives for indigenous telecom manufacturing.

Industry Events: Updates at Network X 2025 (October 14-16, Paris) may provide further details on Open RAN advancements.

BSNL’s plan to upgrade all 4G towers to 5G by mid-2026 will hinge on the success of this pilot, making it a critical step in India’s telecom evolution.
________________________________________
Conclusion
The Rakuten Symphony-BSNL partnership marks a pivotal moment for India’s telecom sector. By combining Rakuten’s Open RAN expertise with BSNL’s infrastructure and Indian-made equipment, this 5G pilot has the potential to redefine how telecom networks are built and deployed. It strengthens India’s position as a global telecom innovator, supports economic growth, and accelerates digital inclusion. As the pilot progresses, it will be exciting to see how this collaboration shapes the future of 5G in India and beyond.

https://telecominfra.blogspot.com/2025/10/...d-bsnls-5g-pilot-in.html

 

BSNL 5G PoC Could Take Place Soon in Partnership with Rakuten: Report

Reported by Tanuja K October 13th, 2025 at 09:27 pm

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), a state-run telecom operator, is likely to launch 5G in the near future. The company is already planning to conduct a 5G PoC (proof of concept). Now, Rakuten Symphony, a wholly owned company of Japanese multinational Rakuten Group is planning to help BSNL with the 5G PoC. Rakuten is already working with the Tejas Networks owned by the Tata Group. Tejas is already working with the state-run telecom company for launching its 4G business. There's a vision of the Indian government, which is "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" or self-reliant India in English.

https://telecomtalk.info/bsnl-5g-poc-could-take-place-soon/1000698/
 

https://www.acorns.com/about/  

As of mid-October 2025, Forge Global reports an Acorns "Forge Price" of around $4.16 per share, with a total company valuation of approximately $2.72 billion. This valuation is a derived price for the private company, which does not have a public stock ticker. It is significantly higher than the nearly $1.9 billion valuation from its last funding round in March 2022.

https://www.google.com/...B74UwgcHMi0yMS4xMcgH4gE&sclient=gws-wiz
 

Rakuten France announces European marketplace expansion: Spain as the first step in a strategic rollout
Paris, September 15, 2025 – Rakuten France, a leading player in French e-commerce and a pioneer in the circular economy, today announces its international marketplace expansion, with Spain as the first strategic market. This new marketplace will offer Spanish consumers and merchants an e-commerce experience that combines accessibility, high-quality service, and responsible consumption, powered by Rakuten France’s technological expertise, particularly in artificial intelligence. This marks the beginning of an ambitious, phased development plan for Rakuten France’s marketplace operations across Europe.

Driving international growth with an optimistic vision for e-commerce
Rakuten France is reaching a pivotal milestone in its journey by embarking on international expansion. This strategic decision to enter the Spanish market aligns with its optimistic vision for e-commerce, supported by a successful model already proven in France. As a digital, inclusive shopping mall, Rakuten France enables safe interactions between buyers, sellers, and brands. Its unique partnership approach ensures that the Rakuten France marketplace platform never competes with its merchant “clients.”
This expansion is built upon three strategic pillars that drive Rakuten's success in French e-commerce:
Supporting merchants in their digital transformation and logistics with innovative, tailored solutions such as Rakuten Fulfillment Network (RFN), an international network of logistics experts handling complete order management – from storage to shipping, tracking, and returns. 99.8% of orders placed before 2 p.m. and handled by the Rakuten Fulfillment Network are delivered to their destination within 24 hours.
Boosting purchasing power, embodied by the Club R cashback program, the most generous loyalty program in French e-commerce, which has already redistributed over €200 million to shoppers.
Championing responsible consumption with a diverse selection of second-hand products, including pre-owned and refurbished items.
Rakuten France’s expansion into Spain represents a tangible first step in scaling this unique and virtuous model across Europe.

Spain: a key market and the starting point for a bold strategy
With over 30 million online consumers and an e-commerce market that exceeded 95 billion euros in 2024, up 13.1% year on year (CNMC), Spain offers tremendous potential for Rakuten France’s next phase of growth.
The rollout follows a staged approach. From today, Rakuten France offers an optimized version of its marketplace in Spain, with two clear goals: to provide Spanish consumers with attractive prices and deliver an outstanding shopping experience.
The initial offering focuses on key consumer product categories, such as tech and home appliances. To ensure fast and reliable service for both sellers and buyers, Rakuten France will leverage its robust Rakuten Fulfillment Network (RFN) and strengthen its offering through enhanced affiliate partnerships, boosting the platform’s visibility and competitiveness.
This initiative draws on Rakuten France’s proven artificial intelligence expertise. AI plays a pivotal role in:
Automatic, context-aware translation of thousands of product listings
Continuous optimisation of the search function, exploring semantic search.
Adaptation of navigation interfaces to meet Spanish consumer preferences.
Product offerings will be expanded gradually, integrating the features that have driven the success of Rakuten France. Spanish consumers will gain access to the Club R cashback program, allowing them to earn money back on their purchases. Rakuten’s second-hand marketplace will also grow, featuring refurbished and pre-owned items across a variety of categories (culture, tech, appliances, gaming, and more) to meet growing demands for sustainable consumption and align with environmental challenges.
Cédric Dufour, CEO of Rakuten France and Rakuten TV, stated, “This expansion marks a major turning point for Rakuten France. It also reflects our vision of e-commerce as a source of value for all and a driver of positive impact. We are entering the Spanish market with a clear strategy, building on our expertise, particularly in supporting sellers. The integration of AI into our approach, designed and implemented by our in-house teams, reflects our agility and ability to innovate. We have an ambitious roadmap, with the resources, vision, and team to make it a reality. We are particularly keen to forge strong partnerships with Spanish retailers to grow together in this dynamic market.”
Rakuten France is committed to providing Spanish buyers with a high level of security and comprehensive after-sales support. As a trusted third party, the digital shopping mall maintains stringent standards for secure payments and the prevention of fraud and counterfeiting.

https://global.fr.shopping.rakuten.com/en/blog/...pe-expansion-spain/

 

Top Japanese Internet & Media Stocks for 2025, According to Morgan Stanley

Published 09/12/2025,

As Japan’s internet and media sector navigates through projected economic stagnation in 2025, Morgan Stanley has identified companies positioned to deliver strong performance despite market challenges.

Their analysis highlights businesses with robust growth strategies, margin improvement initiatives, and diverse revenue streams that can withstand macroeconomic headwinds.

Rakuten rounds out the list with Morgan Stanley highlighting continued mobile subscriber and profit growth that appears undervalued in the current stock price. The mobile division benefits from an enhanced pricing advantage amid competitors’ price hikes. Analysts suggest positive stock price movement even if Rakuten eventually follows industry trends with its own price increases.

The company’s e-commerce division continues expanding sales and profits with structural market growth, while its financial services segment demonstrates clear synergies with e-commerce operations and stable profit expansion across business lines.

Rakuten has received positive analyst coverage, with Nomura upgrading the company to Buy and JPMorgan initiating coverage with an Overweight rating, both citing growth prospects in its mobile segment.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/...nley-93CH-4236668
 

As of October 22, 2025, the latest publicly available revenue figure for Rakuten Symphony is approximately $750 million in annual revenue, as reported in September 2025.

https://www.google.com/...fwgcJMC40LjE3LjIxyAeuAg&sclient=gws-wiz
 

AI-First Delivery: Rethinking Large-Scale Rollouts in Telecom

By Subha Shrinivasan
Senior Vice President, Global Services Division Rakuten Symphony

October 23, 2025

Traditional telecom rollouts, whether for RAN upgrades, core modernization, or edge-cloud deployments, have long been treated as mechanical events. Updates are pushed across environments using linear checklists, and issues surface only after deployment. This manual, systemic approach is a massive liability: System failures dominated incident impact in a recent year, accounting for 72% of all user hours lost, far surpassing human error (15%) or malicious action (6%) [1]. Even with conventional automation, deployments remain vulnerable to post-launch failures. This model is expensive and unsustainable in the era of 5G, Open RAN, and AI-native networks. Specifically, major outages costing over $100,000 are on the rise, increasing from 15% in 2021 to 25% in 2022, and networking issues are a growing cause of these failures due to the sheer complexity of modern, software-defined environments [2].  

An AI-first delivery approach reframes rollout as the starting point for autonomous networks and intelligence, directly addressing the massive operational overhead. By embedding AI into planning, orchestration, monitoring, and remediation, operators can achieve rollouts that are predictive and truly autonomous.

This shift promises significant financial and operational relief: AI-driven automation in telecom operations could lead to a 25-30% reduction in operational costs, with use cases like predictive maintenance reducing network downtime by up to 30% and lowering maintenance costs by 20% [3]. This modernization is critical given the context of massive technological change. The Open RAN market, for instance, is projected to grow at a CAGR of 25.6% through 2030, signaling a clear industry shift toward flexible, multi-vendor architectures that demand this level of automated control [4]. In this blog post, we will explore how Rakuten Symphony is rethinking rollout as the cornerstone of zero-touch networks.
 
https://symphony.rakuten.com/blog/...-large-scale-rollouts-in-telecom
 

How are AI voice agents changing customer service? Rakuten Mobile collaborates with OpenAI to integrate new technology

14 hours ago

oday, a striking 76% of consumers still prefer calling customer service over the phone – but what if the voice on the end of the line isn’t human?

A new generation of AI voice agents are making their way into customer service operations, and they sound more human-like than ever before. At the forefront of this innovation is OpenAI, who introduced Realtime API in October 2024 – an advanced AI model that brings fluid, intuitive and proactive speech-to-speech conversations between businesses and their customers.

This new wave of AI-driven voice technology promises to reshape customer experience. Long wait times, often cited by 60% of consumers as the most frustrating part of service calls, could soon be a thing of the past. With AI voice agents available instantly, customers can now enjoy faster, smoother and more satisfying interactions with businesses.

https://rakuten.today/blog/...openai-to-integrate-new-technology.html
 

Bringing AI-powered voice assistants to 10 million customers across Japan

At Rakuten Mobile, where around 30% of customer inquiries still happen over the phone, experts turned to AI to help bridge the gap between the business and its customers. Leveraging OpenAI’s Realtime API, the organization developed an AI-powered voice assistant making customer support quicker and more accessible for over 10 million subscribers and new customers across Japan.

The new voice agent integrates Realtime API with Rakuten’s homegrown Large Language Model (LLM), Rakuten AI 7B, to provide seamless, natural conversations in both Japanese and English and context-aware responses based on data from Rakuten Mobile’s business knowledge and customer interactions.

https://rakuten.today/blog/...openai-to-integrate-new-technology.html