Rakuten Mobile Highly Evaluated in Opensignal’s Japan Mobile Operator Network Experience Report

Tokyo, August 1, 2023 – Rakuten Mobile, Inc. was evaluated highly in a report published by Opensignal Limited, a global analytics company, comparing the experience of Rakuten Mobile’s network with three other mobile carriers in Japan*¹. The report, titled Network Quality Comparison Between Rakuten Mobile and Three Mobile Carriers, states that “Rakuten’s improving experience is increasing competitive pressure in Japan.” This conclusion was based on data from the Japan Mobile Network User Experience Report, published in April 2023*² and additional Opensignal analysis conducted between April 1 and June 29, 2023.

Overview of Network Experience Comparison Between Rakuten Mobile and Three Mobile Carriers
Subject of Comparison:
• Average: au, NTT Docomo and Softbank
Average score of three mobile carriers, NTT Docomo, au and SoftBank.
• Rakuten (on-net)
Score when Rakuten Mobile users connect to Rakuten Mobile area network, including 4G and 5G.
• Rakuten (roaming)
Score when Rakuten Mobile users connect to a partner area network (au roaming).
• Rakuten
Score taking into account both Rakuten mobile area network and partner area network experience.

Summary of report results

• In terms of 4G Upload Speed, 4G Video Experience, 4G Games Experience and 4G Voice App Experience, Rakuten (on-net) scores exceed Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank. 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed scores also much exceed Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank.
• For 4G Download Speed the Rakuten (on-net) score was close to the Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank score.
  
  

• According to Opensignal's own calculations, the percentage of Rakuten (on-net) users increased from 2021 to 2022 and currently accounts for 94.1% of the total proportion of readings on Rakuten’s area network. This indicates that the better “on-net” experience is available for considerably more of the time which helps to explain the marked improvement in Rakuten’s overall mobile network experience because the 4G experience is better “on-net”.
• Regarding no signal time, Rakuten Mobile also saw a significant improvement in its score over the past year, from 1.68% in Q2 2022 to 0.91% in Q2 2023.

• Rakuten (on-net) 4G Download Speed continuously improved between Q1 2021 and Q2 2023 and is now only slightly lower than Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank.

• Rakuten continues to enjoy much faster 4G Upload Speeds compared to Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank.

• By Q2, 2023, both Rakuten (on-net) and Rakuten 4G Games Experience surpassed the score for Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank.

• Packet Loss, which occurs when a network packet fails to reach its expected destination improved for both 4G and 5G. For 4G, Rakuten (on-net) packet loss fell from 3.5% in January to just 2.6% in June, 2023, lower than Average: au, NTT Docomo & SoftBank. For 5G, packet loss decreased from 3.3% in February to 2.2% in June, 2023.
• In terms of Latency, Rakuten Mobile is very competitive with the three other mobile carriers, especially in 4G.

Rakuten Mobile’s area network experience received high scores in the Opensignal report as a result of the continuous network quality improvements the company has implemented. Furthermore, Rakuten Mobile's new Rakuten SAIKYO Plan launched in June 2023 does away with the previous 5GB data usage limit in domestic roaming partner network areas. This allows customers to use unlimited high-speed data in all network areas in Japan*³, which according to Opensignal, will improve Rakuten Mobile’s customer roaming experience and overall experience further.

Rakuten Mobile will continue to advance Open RAN technologies while improving network quality through collaboration with domestic and international partners to provide superior mobile services to its customers.

Notes
*1 Details of the report can be found here:
https://www.opensignal.com/2023/07/27/rakutens-improving-experience-is-increasing-competitive-pressure-in-japan 
*2 Details of the Japan Mobile Network User Experience Report, published in April 2023 can be found here: https://www.opensignal.com/reports/2023/04/japan/mobile-network-experience
*3 Communication speed may be controlled to provide fair services. In addition, the speed may decrease depending on the environment.

*The information in this press release is based on research published by Opensignal in July 2023. Further information on Opensignal methodology can be found on the Opensignal website here https://www.opensignal.com/methodology-overview
* Product names and service names published in this press release are generally trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
* Trademarks such as TM and ® may be omitted when trademarks are listed in this press release.