Rakuten Mobile Expands 5G (Sub6) Coverage in Kanto Region by 110%, Significantly Surpassing 60% Plan
Tokyo, November 27, 2024 - Rakuten Mobile, Japan’s newest and most modern mobile network, today announced that it has expanded its 5G (Sub6) network coverage area in the Kanto region*1, which includes the Greater Tokyo Area, by 110% compared to January 2024, as part of the company’s efforts to improve network quality for customers.
Rakuten 5G (Sub6) network area expansion in the Kanto region
The expansion in 5G coverage comes as the result of software upgrades that have increased traffic capacity for Rakuten Mobile’s 5G (Sub6) base stations*2. Additionally, radio transmission output has been increased following the easing of measures preventing interference between mobile wireless networks and satellite communications in shared bandwidth frequencies*3, further expanding the 5G (Sub6) coverage area. Combined, these efforts have increased the 5G network coverage area in the Kanto region by 110%, significantly surpassing the company’s plan to increase coverage by 60% by the end of 2024.
Outside of the Kanto region, Rakuten Mobile has implemented similar measures to expand its 5G (Sub6) network coverage area in the Nagoya*4 and Osaka regions*5, where the company has improved 5G traffic per cell and increased the capacity of its 5G (Sub6) base stations.
Since launching 5G services in September 2020, Rakuten Mobile has deployed 17,494 5G outdoor base stations*6 across all 47 prefectures in Japan as of the end of September 2024, with Massive MIMO*7 utilized in more than 80% of its 5G network. One of the benefits of its fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network based on Open RAN standards is the ability to quickly extend beamforming functions in Massive MIMO by upgrading base station software running on the virtualized platform.
Going forward, Rakuten Mobile plans to gradually expand base station capacity and 5G coverage in Kyushu, Okinawa and other areas through similar measures starting in January 2025.
Rakuten Mobile is committed to further enhancing its nationwide mobile network quality so that customers can enjoy best-in-class mobile services anywhere in Japan.
Notes
*1 Refers to the Kanto region: Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Yamanashi Prefectures
*2 Press release: Rakuten Mobile's 5G (Sub6) Traffic in Tokyo Grows 130%, Active Users Increase 50%, and Network Speed Doubles https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/english/news/press/2024/0627_01/
*3 Press release: Rakuten Mobile to Expand 5G (Sub6) Area in Kanto Region by Up to 60% in 2024
https://corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp/news/press/2024/0418_01/ (*Japanese page)
*4 Refers to the Tokai region: Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi and Mie Prefectures
*5 Refers to the Kinki region: Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara and Wakayama Prefectures
*6 Outdoor Sub6 macro base stations only
*7 Massive MIMO is a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology that enables improved communication performance by grouping dozens to hundreds of antennas together to transmit and receive data.
*OpenStreetMap is used under Open Database License. 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.