The Rakuten Group will hold the “2024 Rakuten New Year Conference” on January 25, 2024. Chairman Hiroshi Mikitani, who gave the keynote speech, agreed to an interview with some media after the conclusion.
The main topic of the keynote speech was “AI,” but what was of interest were the trends at Rakuten Mobile. Rakuten Mobile surpassed 6 million subscribers at the end of last year.
Chairman Mikitani said, “(The number of new subscribers) is subject to seasonal variations, but since December marking the end of the year, there has been a lot of last minute demand from corporations. Above all, the coverage was now comparable to other companies’ rates, which led to cancellations. “Our churn rate has become similar to other companies. I won’t say which company, but when comparing our churn rate, there were some places where our churn rate was lower.”
By achieving this “reduction in churn rate,” it appears that Rakuten Mobile’s new acquisitions will further accelerate.
“Even if we acquire new subscribers, if they cancel, we will not increase the number of subscribers. In that regard, our aim for 2023 was to reduce the cancellation rate and reduce costs, and we succeeded. this year I want to step up the gear even further,” Chairman Mikitani said confidently.
In the telecommunications industry, February and March are a busy period known as the “spring shopping season” as many people start new lives.
Rakuten Mobile said, “We are promoting the service through advertising, and we plan to upgrade some new services. However, it is already too cheap to begin with, so it will be difficult to make it cheaper.” (Mr. . Mikitani, chairman).
It is true that Rakuten Mobile will struggle to reduce prices further as it aims to return to profitability as soon as possible. When asked by a reporter about future plans to acquire new customers other than price reductions, Chairman Mikitani replied, “For example, adding a family plan. It should be cheaper for the whole family to register for our strongest plan than other companies’ family plans.”However, perhaps because of human psychology, it is difficult for people to give up Family Plan and register for us, ” he complained.
In the past, NTT Docomo, KDDI, and Softbank have focused on addressing the whole family, and strengthened discounts and family discounts for fixed internet lines. Recently, there has been a trend towards discounts of hundreds of yen per line for multi-line contracts rather than families, but there is no doubt that the strategy of keeping the whole family using the same carrier is still effective.
It’s unclear whether Rakuten Mobile will actually offer a family plan, but it seems the company will continue to promote the idea that, “if you sign up for the strongest plan for the whole family, cheaper than other family companies. plans.”
Platinum band in May
Last year, the company achieved its long-awaited platinum band, and Chairman Mikitani announced, “We will introduce a platinum band from May this year.” n start in March 2026, and the explanation at the time of acquisition said it would start in 2024, but there has been a more specific date of “May this year”. it was published.
Chairman Mikitani said, “We will not suddenly build 10,000 stations, but I believe that we can provide services without any problems in places where we can launch them. However, we also have to coordinate with digital terrestrial broadcasting, and getting approval is a hassle.” He revealed his true feelings.
In fact, with the start of the platinum band, they will probably step up a gear.
Corporate contracts are currently the driving force behind Rakuten Mobile’s ability to acquire new customers.
Chairman Mikitani said, “One big reason is that we are extremely competitive in terms of price. The coverage is also on par with other companies. Nowadays, many companies that have corporate contracts with other carriers have plans of 3GB or 10GB, but I hear people say, “That’s not enough space.”When I suggested Rakuten’s unlimited data plan Mobile, quite a few people signed up for it, “I’ll give it to you,” he said.
The Rakuten Group includes many companies such as stores and hotels, such as Rakuten Market and Rakuten Travel. When acquiring corporate contracts from such companies, it seems they want to create a trend where individuals and families who have experienced “cheap and unlimited use” can sign up for the service.
Chairman Mikitani said, “The Rakuten Group as a whole does business with 900,000 companies, of which we have core business relationships with 200,000 companies. We will continue to actively market this business, expanding from corporate contracts to individuals in the future.””I want to go there,” he said.
By the way, Rakuten Chairman Mikitani says, “60% of new customer acquisitions are online contracts, so we want to improve the accuracy of Rakuten’s internet marketing.”
The break-even point of 8 million to 10 million contracts appears to be within reach.
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