After a fun Golden Week without a state of emergency for the first time in three years, last week when people were heading to the company with a look of sinking as if they had received a state of emergency, the telecommunications industry announced new services, new product launches and financial results. It was a lot of overlap, and it was as busy as a war.
Among them, the one that had a particularly impactful topic was the announcement of Rakuten Mobile’s new rate plan “Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII”. The new rate plan announced by the company on May 13 will be a pay-as-you-go system starting from 1,078 yen per month (hereinafter all including tax), and is scheduled to be available from July 1, 2022 (Friday).
As previously reported, it will replace the previous rate plan “Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI”, and existing users will also be abolished from 0 yen start on the first line on July 1st. Due to the automatic migration to UN-LIMIT VII, there were some harsh voices such as “deceived” and “automatic migration is overkill” on SNS.
Why does Rakuten Mobile abolish the 0 yen start rate plan? What is the chance of winning there? A serial column “Arcaic Singularity” that gives a bird’s-eye view of the singularities of technology from the origin of sensibility. This time, we will consider Rakuten Mobile’s new rate plan “Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII”.
■ New rate plan that is not only bad
First, I would like to review the contents of the plan for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII.
As mentioned at the beginning, this plan is prepared as a replacement plan for Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI, which is the current rate plan, and the monthly high-speed data communication capacity up to 3GB is 1,078 yen per month, and 3 to 20GB is 2,178 yen per month, exceeding 30GB. You can use it unlimitedly for 3,278 yen per month (excluding roaming areas).
In the question and answer session, there were a series of questions such as “Why are you unifying to the new rate plan instead of having both plans side by side?” And “Did you expect any backlash from existing users?” Because it may violate the Telecommunications Business Law. “
In that case, I think it would have been okay to leave the rate plan unchanged, but there is a reason why Rakuten Mobile had to move to the new rate plan.
It is a big blow to those who were aiming for 0 yen operation of 1 GB or less
If you look at the charges for data traffic of less than 1GB, it is a pure price increase, and the price plan as a whole is not cheap at all.
Instead, Rakuten Mobile has prepared the following ancillary service upgrades and campaigns.
・ The “All-you-can-call” option when Rakuten Link is not used has been extended from 10 minutes to 15 minutes once with the same charge (1,100 yen per month).
・ Free for 3 months from the first application for the same “Unlimited Calling” option
・ Increased Rakuten point award rate from up to 4x to up to 6x
・ Rakuten Magazine, Rakuten Music, NBA Rakuten, and Pacific League Special each have a free period, and discounts and points can be redeemed after the free period.
・ YouTube Premium is free for 3 months from the first application
・ Reward points equivalent to 3000 yen for new contracts
・ Free up to 1GB from July 1st to August 31st
・ From September 1st to October 31st, Rakuten points equivalent to the plan fee up to 1GB will be awarded.* There are applicable conditions for each. For details, see the official web page “
Scheduled to start on July 1, 2022! Please refer to “Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII (Price Plan) | Rakuten Mobile”
For those who used it as the main line of smartphones (smartphones), it is considered that it was a very rare case to operate with 1GB or less, so points are returned and various services are practically free of charge. It is expected that more users will benefit purely from the campaigns and discounts.
Especially if you have a contract for Rakuten points, it is an upgrade that you can get pure benefits.
The heavier users of Rakuten services have greater benefits
■ Plan to charge all users
It has been expected to some extent from inside and outside the industry that Rakuten Mobile will revise the rate plan starting at 0 yen and shift to measures to guide all users to billing targets. However, few people expected that time to be so early.
The author also thought, “I think the number of users (contracts) of mobile network operators (MNOs) is 10 million, which is the timing of strategic transition.”
According to the materials of the “Rakuten Group 2022 First Quarter Financial Results Briefing” held on the same day, the number of MNO contracts as of March 2022 was 4.91 million, and as of April, it exceeded 5 million. increase.
Inviting users through free campaigns and cheap charges and raising the charges when users are gathered to some extent is commonly called the “investment recovery phase”, but the number of mobile phone contracts is about 200 million. Given the size of Japan’s mobile market, it seems a bit early for Rakuten Mobile to enter its payback phase.
Rakuten Mobile has steadily increased the number of MNO users by acquiring new users while smoothly migrating virtual mobile network operator (MVNO) subscribers to MNO.
Still, the reason why Rakuten Mobile decided to revise the price plan this time is
・ I want to cut off users who do not use the Rakuten ecosystem and operate for 0 yen and narrow down the target group to excellent customers.
・ I want to encourage users who operate 0 yen to use the Rakuten ecosystem.
・ Rakuten Mobile as an engine for turning the Rakuten ecosystem has a certain prospect.
I feel that there are reasons such as.
In fact, Rakuten Group President Hiroshi Mikitani said during a question and answer session at the financial results briefing.
“(Rakuten Mobile charges) You can use Rakuten Mobile for free if you shop at Rakuten Ichiba.”
“I want to be able to efficiently use what I was wasting at other companies (with Rakuten points).”
Not only does Rakuten Mobile’s contract serve as an entrance to the Rakuten ecosystem, but by strengthening the cooperation between Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Points, the majority of people who have not yet signed up for Rakuten Mobile. It suggests a strategy to guide Rakuten service users to Rakuten Mobile and to secure profits (enclosure) through synergistic effects at an early stage.
Nearly 90% of Rakuten service users have not yet subscribed to Rakuten Mobile.
Rakuten Mobile will increase the number of paying users due to the revision of the price plan, and it is said that billing for all users will be completed in November this year when the free campaign up to 1GB and the 1GB virtually free campaign by rewarding points will end.
In addition to pure operating costs, Rakuten Mobile’s business results include base station construction costs, user acquisition costs, and roaming usage fees paid to KDDI, resulting in a deficit of 135 billion yen as of the first quarter of 2022. However, the company has stated that “this is the peak” and is planning to eliminate the deficit in the future.
The area problem, which has been a concern for a long time since the service started, has been rapidly resolved, and we plan to further reduce roaming with KDDI.
The Rakuten Group and Rakuten Mobile strategies so far have been surprisingly successful.
■ 0 yen User truncation “decision”
It is thought that the ratio of the user base and the trends of other companies have had a considerable influence on the background of Rakuten Mobile’s shift to full billing after starting from 0 yen.
For example, as mentioned above, there are very few users who operate for 0 yen, and there is no doubt that it was judged that there would be no merit in management or user acquisition.
Similar to Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII, MNO’s rate plan that can be contracted from 0 yen is KDDI’s “povo 2.0”, but this is a complete option for data communication, and even a small amount can be used. Since it is necessary to pay at least 330 yen to do so, it is impossible to operate 0 yen for data communication up to 1 GB, and if there is no payment for a long period of time, it will be automatically canceled, so it is not possible to hold a complete 0 yen. ..
In addition, even MVNO companies that use cheap plans as weapons usually have to pay about 500 yen to 1,000 yen for normal usage, and even if Rakuten Mobile is inferior in terms of capacity unit price, it can win in terms of line quality and support system. There may have been a chance of winning.
KDDI President Makoto Takahashi is bullish, saying, “(The basic charge of povo 2.0 is 0 yen) I have no intention of quitting at the moment.”
In any case, it is a fact that many users do not say “then cancel Rakuten Mobile” when Rakuten Mobile declares that it will end the 0 yen plan.
Other companies are not cheap enough to abandon many merits centered on Rakuten points and cancel the contract and switch with MNP. In the first place, users who currently select Rakuten Mobile often place the highest priority on price benefits over communication quality and area size, and from that point as well, the benefits of switching to other companies are diminished.
It can also be considered that the acquisition of users who place the highest priority on price benefits has come to an end. In the future, we will switch to a strategy of attracting new customers by leveraging not only the low price plan but also the enrichment of accompanying services and synergies with the Rakuten ecosystem.
Even if you use up to 20GB, Rakuten is cheap enough for mobile, but if you use more than 20GB, the cost advantage will expand further.
■ The sense of speed of Rakuten Mobile running up the telecommunications industry
Other companies’ MNOs such as NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank have always aimed for profits from communication alone. However, in the case of Rakuten Mobile, it is very different from the starting position.
For Rakuten Group, Rakuten Mobile is a tool to guide people to the Rakuten ecosystem, and it is a tool for people who use the Rakuten ecosystem to gain more.
That’s why there was no problem with the user acquisition strategy of running a deficit, but of course if the deficit width can be reduced and it can turn into a surplus, it will be the most successful (in the first place, as a listed company, we have to aim for that). Not).
This price plan revision marks a new start in our strategy for success. The author, who has seen the rate measures of MNO companies that have not progressed slowly so far, seemed to make a decision too early, but this overwhelming sense of speed is what the Rakuten Group always wins and grows. It may be the reason why I continued.
Can other companies follow this sense of speed?
■ Related links
・ S-MAX
・S-MAX smaxjp on Twitter
・ S-MAX –Facebook page
・ Series “Akiyoshi Ken’s Arcaic Singularity” Article List –S-MAX
・Notice of automatic transition to “Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII” (from July 1st) | Rakuten UN-LIMIT VI (Price plan) | Rakuten Mobile
・Scheduled to start on July 1, 2022! Rakuten UN-LIMIT VII (Price Plan) | Rakuten Mobile
・Rakuten Mobile
