Rakuten’s Q2 reaches a descent in Mobile Section

Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile Inc. released on Wednesday its Q2 2021 financial report demonstrating a bursting operating loss increase of 85 percent year on year (YoY) amounting to $900 million credited to higher network-related expenses.

Due to the semiconductor shortage, the firm’s costs soared as the network rollout was postponed for approximately three months.

The operating company experienced a shortfall which exceeded apprehensions of wiping out the operating profit created by other business units through taking the whole Mobile group to an operating loss of $537 million.

Mickey Mikitani, chairman and CEO claimed that customer acquisition is booming according to plan, with total applications reaching $442 million at the end of June. However, the company has yet to reveal its subscriber base.

“Once we achieve a population coverage of about 97 percent, we will be in a better position to increase speeds, lower costs and boost adoption,” he said in a statement.

As for Rakuten’s wayfaring fees, Mikitani predicted that they would reach a new decline level by March 2022.

Rakuten Group verified on its blog a 15.8 percent YoY increase in revenue of $364 million for Q2 in 2021. This displayed the highest revenue recorded by the Japanese group’s Q2 of a fiscal year.

Due to calculated investment that would lead to a future revenues’ augmentation, such as the augmented buildout of 4G base station installations in the Mobile section of the company, Rakuten’s documented non-GAAP operating deficits of $539 million in an identical period of the past fiscal year.

During the same period, Rakuten Mobile attained 90 percent population coverage for 4G as of the end of June.

Non-GAAP earnings are earning measures that are not prepared by utilizing GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and are not needed for external reporting or different public disclosures. Non-GAAP earnings are occasionally stated in company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Rakuten’s ecosystem user count growth is essential for the sustainability of the company’s growth. The telecom firm’s standard active monthly user base across its platform demonstrated a solid rigid progression of 12.5 percent YoY, in addition to an improved impact of stay-at-home demand for online shopping services that was initiated a year ago.

The service provider’s membership base is on a continuous expansion in both revenue and profit in its 2021’s Q2, in comparison to the same period of the preceding fiscal year.

In June, the amount of Rakuten Cards released exceeded 23 million obtaining a remarkable progression of more than 30 percent YoY, with the company’s whole Gross Transaction Volume (GTV) market share reaching higher than 20 percent.

Regarding Rakuten Mobile’s revenues, the Mobile segment grew to $466 million – an escalation of 17 percent YoY. Despite that, the section’s losses shifted to approximately $903 million in comparison to the same period last year.

On Wednesday, the Tokyo-based company opened its market at $12 per share and closed it at $12.255 with a trading volume of 49,224 shares transacted. With that in mind, it is worth mentioning that as of the time of writing, Rakuten Inc.’s share price stands at $12.04 per share, with a 1.75 percent decline in value, according to Nasdaq.