A big year for Rakuten Mobile: Nine major milestones
From satellite video calls to AI assistants in your pocket, 2025 was a breakthrough year for Rakuten Mobile. Five years since launching as Japan’s newest carrier, the company has continued steady growth, reaching 10 million subscribers, while taking the lead in new technologies and customer satisfaction.
Here are nine standout moments from a year that showed just how far Rakuten Mobile has come.
1. Making Japan’s mobile networks disaster-ready
Japan knows the importance of staying connected when disaster strikes. In 2025, Rakuten Mobile took major steps to ensure those connections hold strong.
In January, Rakuten Mobile joined Japan’s other carriers for nationwide drills in Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, to test refueling infrastructure for mobile base stations. In March, it took part in disaster recovery training aboard a cable-laying vessel in Nagasaki, in Japan’s west.
Just a few months later, the carriers came together again to launch a new information-sharing system, designed to improve how networks serve evacuation centers and reduce overlapping efforts, making sure no region is left stranded.
Through solid collaboration, Rakuten Mobile is stepping up as Japan’s newest pillar of essential wireless infrastructure.
2. GenAI for businesses of all sizes
January also welcomed Rakuten Mobile’s launch of Rakuten AI for Business, a practical generative AI platform designed to help companies, big and small, leverage the latest AI tech.
The tools are browser-based, easy to use, and tuned for Japanese business, offering support for drafting documents, translation, analyzing in-house data and more, with built-in safeguards to keep sensitive data protected.
The platform leverages the real-world expertise gleaned from Rakuten’s own internal usage of advanced AI tools in sales, operations, and marketing, providing pre-made templates to help businesses hit the ground running.
The goal is to make AI accessible for businesses of any size, unlocking new potential at an affordable price point. The platform leverages the real-world expertise gleaned from Rakuten’s own internal usage of advanced AI tools in sales, operations, and marketing, providing pre-made templates to help businesses hit the ground running.
3. The go-to carrier for Japan’s global residents
In spring 2025, a nationwide survey crowned Rakuten Mobile the carrier of choice among global users living in Japan. Affordability, unlimited data and multilingual accessibility were all key factors, with stores offering support in English, Chinese, Nepali and more, in addition to AI-powered translators and simplified documentation.
The survey revealed that word-of-mouth has played a major role in this trend, as users recommend Rakuten Mobile to their friends. Today, one in four of all in-store contracts come from non-Japanese customers.
4. Video calls from space
Spring also brought a major milestone in satellite-powered connectivity.
Continuing its long-running partnership with AST SpaceMobile, Rakuten Mobile completed Japan’s first ever video call using a low Earth orbit satellite and regular, unmodified cell phones.
The signal was relayed from a Rakuten Mobile ground station in Fukushima, through the satellite, and down to Tokyo. It was a demonstration of how Rakuten’s upcoming Saikyo Satellite Service can fill coverage gaps across mountains, islands and disaster zones.
With a full rollout planned for late 2026, Rakuten is pushing connectivity to places it’s never reached before.
5. Slashing energy use with smarter infrastructure
Running a nationwide mobile network takes serious energy, particularly the radio access network (RAN) – the physical base stations and antennas that wirelessly connect users’ devices.
In May, Rakuten rolled out a new, AI-driven platform called RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller), developed in collaboration with Rakuten Symphony. RIC uses machine learning to predict network traffic, automatically powering down base stations when demand is low.
The platform could cut energy consumption by up to 20% – a substantial reduction when working on the scale of a major mobile network. Rakuten Mobile has become one of the first operators to deploy this tech at scale in an Open RAN network, achieving a greener, more efficient telecom infrastructure without compromising performance.
6. AI for all with Rakuten Link
July saw the launch of Rakuten AI, a powerful tool baked into the Rakuten Link communications app.
Free for all Rakuten Mobile users via the Link app, Rakuten AI is a smart companion that can handle everything from quick searches to personalized prompts across the broader Rakuten Ecosystem. The assistant responds with instant results and handy follow-ups, leveraging a deep understanding of Japanese context.
It’s the first step in Rakuten’s agentic ecosystem, in which AI doesn’t simply answer questions, but takes real actions. With rollout planned for Rakuten Ichiba and other services, Rakuten AI is being positioned as an essential gateway, integrated with the Rakuten Ecosystem.
7. Unlimited data, unlimited entertainment with U-NEXT
In summer, Rakuten Mobile announced yet another exciting new partnership, this time with one of Japan’s biggest streaming platforms, U-NEXT. The Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT plan launched in October, gives users unlimited data and unlimited streaming in a single, easy package.
The plan gives subscribers full access to Japan’s biggest online library of movies, dramas, music, and even international sports leagues – all for 3,880 yen (4,268 yen including tax) per month. Up to four users can share an account at no extra cost.
8. Japan’s favorite carrier, three years running
Rakuten Mobile wrapped up 2025 with a major win: its third consecutive top ranking in the ORICON Customer Satisfaction survey, beating out Japan’s major carriers in eight of nine categories.
Customers praised Rakuten Mobile’s ease of sign-up, affordable pricing, strong support, promotions and device selection. New plans tailored to families and seniors helped make the service even more accessible, while partnerships such as that with U-NEXT added even more tangible value.
9. Reaching 10 million subscribers
As 2025 drew to a close, Rakuten Mobile surpassed 10 million mobile subscribers on December 25. The milestone, reached just five years and eight months after the company first launched its services, shows that Rakuten’s commitment to affordable and accessible mobile services is resonating deeply with customers across Japan.
Entering 2026, Rakuten Mobile is showing no signs of slowing down, continuing to build on its success as Japan’s favorite carrier.
