In Conversation with
Kazuhiro Suzuki,
Co-CEO of
Rakuten Mobile
Kazuhiro Suzuki joined Rakuten Group in April 2022, and was appointed as Representative Director, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten Communications and Representative Director and President of Rakuten Energy in June of the same year. In April 2023, he became co-CEO of Rakuten Mobile and plays an active leadership role in the telecommunications industry.
Suzuki has demonstrated leadership in a wide range of fields, including sales, business development, consulting, and strategy planning, at major technology companies both in Japan and overseas. He has served in key executive positions, including executive officer and CEO, where he was responsible for leading organizations.
Rakuten Group is actively expanding its telecommunications services through Rakuten Mobile, supporting the democratization of the mobile market for individual and corporate users. This includes efforts to strengthen the synergies between Rakuten Mobile and the wider Rakuten Ecosystem.
We caught up with Suzuki to delve into his journey at Rakuten and his vision for the company moving forward.
What attracted you to Rakuten Mobile when you first joined?
When I learned about Rakuten Group’s intention to further develop its enterprise business, I noted several aspects that were consistent with the skills and experience I had gained throughout my career. I was also deeply impressed by Rakuten Mobile's vision of democratizing the mobile market. The conventional view is that social infrastructure requires more human resources, costs, and time to be better, but throughout my career, I've felt the need to change this trend.
Rakuten Mobile leverages innovative technology to provide cost-effective networks that deliver new value to society. While the decision was not easy, I was convinced this opportunity was worth pursuing.
What is your current area of focus?
We are currently focused on innovating our services for individual customers and expanding our solutions for corporate customers.
We are enhancing the benefits for individual customers by strengthening the synergies between Rakuten Mobile and the Rakuten Ecosystem, making it easier to access and utilize other Rakuten services. By doing so, we aim to improve the overall customer experience and value proposition of the Rakuten Group, making our users' daily lives more convenient and enriching.
For corporate customers, we are expanding our range of diverse solutions to provide strategic services that support business growth, moving beyond simply offering connectivity as a utility. As of April 2025, Rakuten Mobile provides services to over 20,000 corporate customers, supporting their digital transformation initiatives.
What is Rakuten Mobile’s growth strategy for its enterprise business?
In addition to core services like network, security and mobile device management, we are enhancing our industry-specific solutions to enable comprehensive digital transformation for all our users. For example, in nursing care settings, our solution automatically records and transcribes staff communications and integrates data from body movement and human presence sensors to improve resident health management and reduce staff workload.
We provide comprehensive support for network-driven digital transformation, addressing industry-specific challenges. Our goal is to provide added value beyond network services and foster long-term relationships with our corporate clients.
What is Rakuten Mobile doing to improve Japan’s digital competitiveness?
Japan is often cited as lagging behind other nations in terms of digitalization. This is particularly evident among small and medium-sized enterprises, which face significant challenges in leveraging digital technology to improve business efficiency and competitiveness. The shortage of deskless workers is expected to become more severe, making it necessary to digitalize their work and improve efficiency using AI.
Local governments also face human resource shortages and digitalization delays, raising concerns about widening regional disparities due to slow progress in resident services and administrative digitization. We believe our mission is to leverage digital technology to address challenges like labor shortages in an aging society, ensure equitable access to information and services, and create an inclusive society where no one is left behind. This will pave the way for developing smart cities leveraging IoT and enhanced safety and security for local residents.
What are your thoughts on utilizing AI?
Utilizing AI, Rakuten can analyze customer data more efficiently and implement tailored marketing measures, further improving service utilization rates and customer experience across the Rakuten Group.
Rakuten Mobile leverages our in-house AI systems and experience to improve network operations and analyze customer data. The resulting knowledge and technology are also applied to Rakuten AI for Business, an enterprise AI service offered by Rakuten Group to our corporate clients. Based on Rakuten Mobile's proven track record, this service aims to improve business efficiency and competitiveness for corporate users across a wide range of industries.
What is your vision for Rakuten Mobile as co-CEO?
Rakuten is committed to empowering Japan starting with local communities, and Rakuten Mobile shares this vision. We plan to leverage the face-to-face service offered at Rakuten Mobile shops to connect more closely with local communities and provide accessible network solutions for all individual users.
In addition, we are dedicated to actively supporting the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises across Japan, driving growth in their local communities. Our aim is to empower the entire nation, region by region, by providing value that extends beyond connectivity, supporting the growth of both individual and corporate customers. Rakuten Mobile will continue to embrace new challenges to shape the future.
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