Rakuten Mobile Acquires Blanket Licenses for Specified Base Stations from Telecommunications Bureaus Nationwide

Tokyo, October 1, 2019 - Rakuten Mobile, Inc. announced that it has received blanket licenses^*1 for 4th generation mobile telecommunications systems (4G) specified base stations using the 1.7 GHz frequency band from telecommunications bureaus nationwide.

In January 2019, Rakuten Mobile received blanket licenses for the Kanto, Tokai and Kinki regions^*2 from the respective bureaus of telecommunications. Subsequently, applications were filed for licenses for Hokkaido, Tohoku, Shinetsu, Hokuriku, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa regions and by September, all licenses were acquired. With the acquisition of these licenses, Rakuten Mobile is now able to transmit radio waves from its base stations across Japan.

Today, Rakuten Mobile launched its own mobile carrier service as an MNO (mobile network operator). Going forward, the company will continue to build out its base stations nationwide and work to create a high quality mobile communications service for its subscribers.

*1 The blanket licenses allow the receiver to establish multiple base stations of the same type with one license, rather than requiring a license for each individual base station.
*2 For further information, please check the following site: https://global.rakuten.com/corp/news/press/2019/0123_01.html