Rakuten Mobile added a million mobile subscribers year-on-year in Q3, to end September with 9.3 million, and targeted hitting the 10 million milestone by year-end as EBITDA remained positive for a second consecutive quarter.

Chairman Mickey Mikitani (pictured) noted net additions of 405,000 in Q3, despite the quarter typically being a weak period. Coupled with declining churn, he said it is in a good position to reach the subscriber goal.

He suggested in a macroeconomic environment with “persistent inflation, we believe the relative attractiveness of our plan has improved”.

Operating loss in the period dropped by JPY13.4 billion ($86.6 million) to JPY37 billion, and EBITDA continued to improve, hitting JPY7.8 billion compared with a loss of JPY10 billion a year earlier.

Mobile segment revenue rose 31.2 per cent to JPY95.2 billion, driven by mobile services increasing 24.7 per cent to JPY53.9 billion and devices growing 30.3 per cent to JPY17 billion. Its MVNO unit’s sales dropped 36.2 per cent to JPY1.2 billion.

Data ARPU improved 3.6 per cent year-on-year to JPY1,781; average usage rose 9.8 per cent to 33.5GB a month.

Total mobile users hit 8.1 million in early November 2024.

Mikitani said it added 4,600 base stations in 2025. It closed 2024 with about 100,000 4G and 5G base stations.

He argued AI is changing the fundamentals of the business and a major factor in reducing costs, giving the example of the technology being used to improve efficiency of external advertising. “Using data and AI and is becoming increasingly important.”

Rakuten Symphony secured six new customers across North America, Africa and Asia. Revenue grew 33.6 per cent to JPY20.1 million.