Rakuten Group Inc

TSE:4755

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q2

[Operator]

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Rakuten Group's 2023 Second Quarter Financial Results Meeting. We have disclosed the latest consolidated financial reports at 3:00 p.m. today, and you can view this data on our corporate website page for investors along with the presentation documents used in this meeting. Mikitani will give a presentation. Miki, please go ahead.

[Hiroshi Mikitani, executive]

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, [indiscernible] I would like to offer a 2023 locked on the second quarter consolidated financial results announcement. So we would like to start the session. Thank you for coming. So today, for myself, I would like to go through the summary. The overall will be reported for myself. And then by segment by segment, the performance of the segment will be reported by the person in charge of that specific discipline. And also financial strategy. At the same time, the open AI, the other day, we have made announcement of a strategic partnership.

So inclusive of the initiative, we'd like to also ask about AI strategy. And Tensa will be reporting on this segment. So first of all, the overview of our business in FY 26 consecutive years, we have been able to increase our revenue. So global, of course, GTV is JPY 34 trillion. And in terms of CAGR is plus 39.2%. So revenue, again, is going to be close to JPY 2 trillion. And in terms of '97 to '22, we have been able to grow very robustly over the years. So CAGR is plus 56.9% during this time period. And in terms of this quarter, so in terms of consolidated revenue, we have JPY 497.2 billion, so plus by 9.7% year-on-year increase.

And in terms of the revenue, tremendously, we have been able to make it a major improvement. So in consolidated non-GAAP operating income, last year, the same quarter, it was about a minus negative by JPY 80 billion. And this time is minus JPY 39.4. And in terms of the EBITDA consolidated on the rate, we have JPY 33.6 billion positive that we were able to achieve. So dramatically, the mobile, of course, investment and return has been able to be obtained and the overall business is now in surplus, and we're on the trajectory in achieving a higher growth.

I like to talk about marketing slightly and the monthly active users. So in Japan as a business, we have exceeded 40 million. So 40.5 million people are now doing the transaction on Lakota and Lactotravel and Magotan card is being utilized, utilizing various services offering. And this is 8.2%. So in terms of the size, even, we are seeing a very high growth rate, as you have seen. But more than that, I must say that Lakota ecosystem, the users are increasing NRIs and in terms of research. Those people who utilize more than 2 services is 76.7%.

So respectively, the business segment, I would like to touch upon the performance of the business segment. First of all, Internet service. This is shopping travel or advertising. And the sales is JPY 294.7 billion on year is plus by 11.7%. And non-GAAP operating income, excluding the investment business, this is a 4.3% plus positive. But with that being said this time, Rakuten Mobile, especially the shopping, the contributions are large and significant. So, therefore, SPU costs, the mobile SPU cost and the lack Internet segment has been transferred to the Internet segment. So with that, we are going to grow -- have grown by 16% year-on-year plus.

So in terms more than the revenue growth, the so-called the profit structure is even better. So this is what we call the building ratio. In terms of the revenue, the profit of further larger in growth and significant growth of the revenue. So in terms of the domestic EC, EIA in terms of total GTV is 10% plus is JPY 1.5 trillion, especially large sales is also doing very well. And also at the same time, Rakuten travel year-on-year, I would say, acute before compared to before COVID, it's plus by 36%. And especially, what needs to be highlighted is profession is doing very well. And in terms of total GMS, the recent 12 months is JPY 1.1 trillion.

So it's year-on-year plus 9% and U.S. Membership business, the Rakuten Alris is USD 2.7 billion, with the current conversion rate is going to be JPY 300 billion, exceeding that level of yen terms. So doing very well as a trajectory of our business. And fintech -- with this again yesterday, Rakuten Bank, A very good, of course, track record has been reported already. But of course, 13.3% of achieving JPY 181 billion and non-GAAP operating income is 31.2% plus and JPY 33 billion. The highlight is Rakuten Card, it continuously is doing riding on a tailwind. So it is having 2 trillion 16.3% year-on-year growth.

And the Rakuten Bank is now close to JPY 10 trillion, plus 16.9% year-on-year growth and acute security deposit asset. So how we were able to stabilize the profit in terms of the transaction commission, we will also be able to drive profit and JPY 22.2 trillion. So again, a very strong robust number. Rakuten Card is 29.4 million, plus 9.5%, so close to 30 million cards right around the corner. Rakuten Bank accounts year-on-year 10.8% positive, is doing very well as well. and Rakuten Securities to general account accounts for JPY 9.24 million, plus 14.8% year-on-year.

So now with that being said, the mobile business, let me describe about the mobile. In terms of revenue and profit, it's the segment is 13.3% revenue plus positive and non-GAAP OI is JPY 37.2 billion. So it has improved in terms of the revenue and EBITDA basis, it's plus JPY 42.6 billion. So year-on-year, there is an improvement that we were able to make. So what have been achieved so far is that, first of all, the coverage of population is 99.9% coverage and Newby, the new initiative, a roaming agreement that we have concluded is high-quality nonlimit utilization. And I would like to describe this later on, but MNO subscribers numbers are both increase is now a free of charge now is with charge.

We have dropped, but now it's coming back in terms of the growth trajectory as well. So seeing a good sign. And also the entity institutional cost contract is going up. And ARPU is one, it's a plus by JPY 736 plus, so it have exceeded JPY 2,000 as of now. The most important thing is the churn rate has dropped significantly, making a huge improvement. And Rakuten Symphony, the project also is pursuing very steadily. [Foreign Language].So from here and onwards, a big topic about irate mobile, social contribution, and also as a business, how it is performing, it would be covered. And then myself, so what we want to realize is unlimited, low price and high quality. So how can we provide this in a low price to all the citizens of Japan. How can we provide this to them.

With that, we can help their household budget and revitalize the economy. And then mean they can spend their money into a more meaningful thing. So this is under the Rakuten Mobile social mission, we believe. So why do we say so? Because the smartphone are not a voice communication tool. It can become a TV or magazine or maybe or TikTok or Instagram and then self-assertion or self-expression, the place occasion and it will become a wallet and then it will become a securities companies and maybe they can serve as a doctor in the future. And also, they will become AI and then become another brand of yourself. So with low cost, -- and then the penetrated broadly and then without worrying about the data volume, it should be used.

That is our strong mission statement as a result. So now the price is increasing in the market, but the mobile phone price in this 2020 with the entry of Rakuten to this mobile market and then the price has become a low price since then. And it used to be JPY 6,755, but it went down to JPY 5,073 on average by the over 4 monthly fee. And then this is not just because of the Rakuten Mobile it pays right now is contributing to return JPY 4 trillion back to the household. So, let's say, family of 4 members and then using unlimited data codes. And looking at this as an example, so the throughout the family member of and more than JPY 200,000 can be saved. And if it will become more than JPY 2.1 million in 10 years, that can be saved.

Maybe they can use that money for the travel or maybe they can shop at Rakuten Ichiba or make it for their investment? Or maybe the tuition can be paid by that. So that can be realized throughout this. And this is so Rakuten goal all of the employees of Rakuten Ecosystem members, the strong intent is working to make this happen. In other words, we want to democratize the mobile phones, the low-cost, high-quality, and unlimited data usage is something we would like to realize. However, this is a business. So let me talk about the benefit. So I will be talking later, but in terms of Rakuten Ecosystem, the contributions are very significant. So this is a very strong message. So how large in terms of the subscribers of Dark Mobile for a year, the service fees is -- more than 2 services are being utilized.

So it's quite a surprising number overall group already. Over 12 million new use are increasing. So Rakuten each by those people who only utilize will not be supplied for Rakuten Card, those back bankcard users, and now they are going to go into Rakuten Bank, opening a deposit or Rakuten Pay. So the royalty is really exploding in terms of utilizing multiple service from our ecosystem. And in terms of GMS, before contract after contract in a flat ground basis, plus 35% 53% in terms of increase. So in terms of ARPU increase, it's JPY 720 overall in terms of ARPU conversion. So the group contribution is now JPY 9 billion and contribution and EBITDA is plus JPY 5 billion on the quarter. So we now have JPY 20 billion as of now.

So furthermore, utilizing data, utilizing AI, by doing so, the JPY 700 trillion of the target, we'd like to achieve JPY 1,500 in terms of the group ecosystem contribution, which we believe that we'll be able to attain. So in other words, in terms of -- not included in the earlier report, but it's quite interesting. But the Rakuten Life Insurance, the sales agent. It could also as a registered basis, but they can sell Rakuten Mobile. So that number is also on an increase. Life Insurance, very expensive. And of course, let's say, Rakuten Mobile being covered by Rakuten Mobile, the cost saving of the mobile cost payment, you can pay that to avert to life insurance payment premium.

So then the lifetime value, so A&P annualized insurance premium of new policies. So4.4x is going to be the benefit that will be brought about. So in other words, with mobile, again, to reiterate, saving the payment for the mobile, you'll be able to utilize that for the future guarantee and gaining cover of insurance that may be of use at contingency. So a very virtual cycle with 4.4x of value. And also what I have explained earlier. So this is a very big project, as I explained earlier and the 3 companies, for example, NTT and using the government budget to create the network and which is privatized, and then other providers are doing, but we did this from the scratch with the power of venture try to establish the mobile network.

So this is to cut into the monomeric environment. And that would start back 2020, having said that. So unlike the overseas market, so the government has not been supporting us, so we have to manage it on our own. Therefore, -- so we aggressively establish base stations means we opened up the base station with the virtualization technology to accelerate opening up the station built. That was from 2020. And this year is Phase 2. And then we have been aggressively opening up base stations. So first of all, we would like to optimize our cost. And then also network, we have a roaming partner, KDDI, that was increased like other providers, maybe we can cover much coverage than other providers and better performance.

And the third one is marketing. We want to sophisticate the marketing based on the region or using CRM for the marketing. And the fourth one is Rakuten Strength, which is the relationship with the clients. So we want to set up or start the B2B business. This is a big goal in 2023. And the Phase 2 is about to complete. That is our impression. And probably from Q4 this year, we will be able to start Q3, meaning first of all, we make this business into the profitable, and then we want to follow the path to become the #1 mobile carrier in Japan. And then I've already explained this to the investors. And the first of all, monthly, so-called operating cost. So mobile, the cost optimization target is JPY 15 billion per month, and this is quite aggressive target that we set up.

And then as of June, we've already achieved JPY 12.9 billion cost saving, which is 86% of cost optimization target. We've already achieved that. Therefore, the remaining, which is JPY 2.1 billion, and it is already foreseen. So probably, I think we can achieve that. And because we're using software and automated -- automation is possible because of the software. And this is quite a very efficient management in the global businesses. And the second is about the coverage, as you know. So beside your plan was launched. The new roaming agreement was concluded, so we are going to leverage them to increase the coverage of 99.9% and with the areas with unlimited high-speed data.

And another point is maybe this is a surprise to you? But we have some fact data from the open signal, Open Signal in the market research company, and this is the report from them. Among the 38 prefectures in 16 prefectures, the network coverage is net coverage we are. So it means we can provide the services in 6 prefectures. So using this, why -- because we have a bit of operation. And then the site location is managed by AI. Therefore, around 4 this year, KDDI roaming agreement would be becoming better, and we will have better coverage in location. Therefore, this adapting portion. So rank or ranked to other parts will be expanded with those things.

Rakuten Mobile 16 out of 38, Rakuten Mobile is the most covering and #1 in those areas. And other than that, performance, and this the virtual technology, how about it. So someone is quite suspectable about the virtual technology, but 4G and 5G download upload speed, we are servicing others, and we have the fastest speed in here. And including these facts, in the past, so when we make our services from to the paid basis and the churn rate back then was 7% or 8%. But in 1 month, so the going other careers, wanting to have some project, excluding them. The actual churn rate is 1.4%. So which is on par with other 3 major carriers.

So in near future, probably in 1 or 2 weeks, so 5 million subscriber would be possible to achieve. We are quite near to that. And another highlight here is the Rakuten Group, more than -- we have more than 900,000 clients and how to empower those clients were the Ichiba business and the travel or the advertisement revenue and then we have been contributing using those powers and to the other clients. low price and easy to use and the corporate agreement, we want to sell this B2B, the contract, and we are targeting B2B subscription target 1 million by the end of this year. And looking at other companies and looking at the B2C or B2B, there are big price differences. However, in terms of Rakuten, there is no big price gap.

So this has become a really profitable business. So now we've already started sending this corporate mobile. And then we already get some voices from the actual corporate users. So please watch the video. [Foreign Language]

[Unknown Executive]

Rakuten Mobile's secure plan has been launched for the general public. And now corporate customers are also benefiting from the strongest mobile service. Rakuten Mobile's corporate service originally comprised of 3 plants, which all had limited data usage. Now the offer has been enhanced with 3 updates aimed at providing the strongest service at a lower cost. The first offers unlimited data and free calls through Rakuten Link office. The second is an upgraded version of the existing limited data plan. And the third is a new data exclusive plan. This is set to be enhanced further with the upcoming release of the Rakuten Link Office desktop app.

Japan's corporate mobile market is estimated to comprise of around 36 million phone lines. And within this market, there are as many as 900,000 client and partner companies connected to Rakuten Group businesses such as Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten Travel, Rakuten Card, and Rakuten Payment. These companies, which have already established bonds of trust with Rakuten represent a promising opportunity for Rakuten Mobile to increase its corporate customer base. We paid a visit to one of the businesses that has already signed up to Rakuten Mobile.

MIC is a company that offers a wide range of services to promote sales for businesses such as platform provision, design, and printing. It operates across 6 offices in the Kanto region. We asked a company representative about why they chose to sign up. [Foreign Language]. Rakuten Mobile's corporate sales staff are now all concentrated together on a single office floor. Each morning, they gather for a busy all-hands briefing to get updated on the latest sales findings and figures. With all members being so close at hand, it makes it easier to share information and get a firm grasp of current business strategy as well as the situation among neighboring sales teams. As such, the office floor is often lively with conversation.

[Unknown Executive]

I joined mobile Corporate sales department in November 2021. And since then, it changed and grown at such rapid rate.

[Hiroshi Mikitani, executive]

So if you're interested, please on the web, you'll be able to see the whole real. So with that, the corporate contract is increasing quite steadily. And again, -- this is Rakuten Group, what we are best at, what we're good at. And last but not least, I'd like to talk about data AI and slightly about fintech as well. And first of all, data AI strategy due today, Rakuten Optimism Conference, we announced the -- with some ultimate of Open with the CEO, Sam Altman, the right service opening, the basic agreement has been concluded by means of memorandum understanding. For us, internally, utilizing open AI, but not that alone to a client like within Ichiba merchants and hotels and against clients, we'll be able to develop and also share and offer an AI services.

So that's what we're intending to. So Rakuten Group, in a nutshell, the marketing strategy, AI strategy, data strategy. Rakuten Data is truly -- is a very rich data set that is secondly known around the world. So marketing efficiency, therefore, would go up by 20%, and also internal operating efficiency, including coating as well. That is also going to increase by 20%. For instance, Rakuten Mobile, why will be able to operate in such a low cost or manner is because many of them are being automated. So this could be done by software. If you're working hardware, it's difficult to automate hardware, but the container cloud developed containers. So it could be automated. And automatically can scale up automatically, it could switch over automatically, it could see optimization and efficiency.

So that is the reason why it is enabling that service. And the Rakuten Group, not us alone utilizing AI and getting better. But it's the merchant of Rakuten Ichiba and also the Alris and hotels, accommodation, various clients of ours, and also business partners. We'll be able to bring about 20% efficiency. It's really by means of impoundment. So that's the concept of Rakuten Group. So utilizing AI in the impairment, of course, is what we are trying to achieve. So open AI and also working with them, the various services and products will be offered. So Rakuten Group proprietary, of course, development is also always underway.

And with that being said, the other last but not least, this is not directly related to AI, but already part of the mass media have covered the story in terms of reorganization of our structure, we have online offline and there's marketing and data. How are you going to combine them together is going to be a very important name of the game. So only on that alone, but we are also working in offline as well the level Rakuten Card in QR code, Rakuten Pay with QR code, and also Rakuten Point. And [indiscernible]. So those are something that we have been doing in the past. But this is going to be integrated. So it's a total cashless payment company. So we're going to evolve our business.

So Rakuten Card Corporation below that, we have Rakuten Payment cooperation will be brought under the umbrella of Rakuten Card. Just as a reference, the competitors, competitive competitors already. In the past 12 months, the total GTV is JPY 27.4 trillion. So therefore, we are going to achieve JPY 30 trillion, very close to achieving JPY 30 trillion. So within the world, I must say, is a very strong settlement platform, payment platform, and a platform that's highly credible and reliable. So one of the synergy that we have foreseen, we made announcement Rakuten Pay terminal the other day. Within this terminal, Rakuten Mobile, full GLT is TE is embedded. And therefore, in terms of -- without paying the mobile payment, this could be done outside, inside, sometimes, there may be an area that's with Wi-Fi, but you can still utilize them at the restaurant.

When you do the payment, if you bring a credit card, you don't know sometimes it could be utilized in other means. But in front of you, you could pay -- do the payment and settlement. So for us, not only acute pay alone, but they pay deep payment AU Pay and other credit, all the credit cards, American Express, Visa, Mastercard, JCB diners, Discover, and also e-money also covers all these monies. And points, Rakuten Point, will you be able to pay with Rakuten Point? Is it integrated anywhere in use terminal. So in the free market outside, inside, anywhere, you'll be able to utilize them. And we made this announcement under day. And it is a very strong -- it's learning a lot of strong attraction interest. So this is one of the IoT technology in Rakuten. This is one of the small example of how we can do with this technology. So that will be all for my part of the presentation. And now I would like to pass over to as I mentioned, mobile Internet fintech and also the other department quite succinctly, we would like to present for each of the divisions. So thank you very much.

[Unknown Executive]

So thank you very much for joining to our earnings meeting today, and Hyakuno speaking, Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony is under my management as well. And today, before this presentation, we have announced on Monday about the Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony is new organization. I would like to reexplain about the organizational change of that. And the first of all, business status and Rakuten Mobile for this year, as mentioned earlier before. So we are going to improve the operation and the quality to expand our business as a result of these initiatives, the next phase, we are foreseeing the profitability -- turning into the profitability.

So that from the year beginning to tariff, I wanted -- I told him to work more on the Symphony side, and the CTO Chalet. It has been serving on behalf of him for the both operation and development side. And the Symphony side, so the starting a launch phase to the expansion of the business phase, they have been transiting and it's in line with our plan. Under that environment in Carrick, had been consulting with me about his personal matter, and we have been discussing every heat personal situation has not resolved and we had a discussion. And as of August 7, he decided to resign from this company. And then I am really appreciating his present. I would like to send my help to him.

And after that and has already announced the CTOs, the Rakuten Mobile, the Symphony is quite complicated, and shared become co-CEO and CTO at Rakuten Mobile Symphony. And then the co-CEO, Desusutisa and Sharad would be leading these model businesses. And the racoons, Mikitani is a representative CEO and chairperson. And Sharad would become the representative of the President. So these 2 leaders would be accelerating the business of Symphony and Sharad. About 30 years, we had been experiencing in this industry. And then in mobile technology, he is acquired expert, and then he joined the Rakuten Mobile in September 2018 and 2022 March. Since then he has become the CTO. And then in 2022, April, the Rakuten Group, I'm the Managing Director. He took the position and introducing open run a full virtualized cloud-native network.

And this is a cutting-edge Rakuten network technology development and operation under his responsibility. So he is taking care of the core or the hard part of Rakuten Mobile he is leading that part chalet. And this new organization structure and Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony will be accelerating their businesses. And today, Sharad is not here overseas, but he is joining this call and later he will be introducing himself to you. And next, from Suzuki-san, he would explain about the mobile segment financial results of the Q2.

[Unknown Executive]

Good afternoon, everyone, and Rakuten Mobile CEO Suzuki is speaking. So I would like to cover the mobile segment business performance. And first of all, Q2 revenue entire mobile segment was JPY 80.1 billion comparing to the previous year, minus 0.9%. But Rakuten Mobile loan made double-digit growth, which is 13.3%, and then others. So related energy business, on about procuring the cost will increase. Therefore, we control the sales. That has a negative impact to this. But the Rakuten Mobile stand-alone revenue has been steadily growing.

In OI mobile segment total or Rakuten Mobile standalone, so a significant improvement was made. As shown in this graph, continuously, we have been growing revenue and improving the operating income we have been achieving both factors. And as for the revenue, as explained before, there are some seasonal factor. So new fiscal year device sales will increase. That is the seasonality. Because of that, Rakuten Mobile revenue seems to be stagnated, however the communication part is growing steadily. With that segment Operating Income or segment EBITDA based on the profit made a significant improvement.

So maybe everyone is interested in here about the network quality improvement time line and the new roaming contract was made, so in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka region, for those the metropolitan areas, we have some available area with this new roaming contract. So we have more coverage with that roaming contract, and this is in the final stage for the adjustment, and this will be starting shortly. And by autumn of this year, we will see a big improvement with that. And then looking this from the nationwide basis, well, we are able to continuously use these areas. And then even in this area, we have changed some parameters or the sitting change, and then we see improvement with those changes and still it's improving, and that will be showing a certain results, good results in autumn this year.

So through these initiatives, or our efforts. So the Rakuten Mobile users awareness changed a lot. And the Rakuten Mobile users, so they have intend to continue using Rakuten Mobile, that is about more than 77%, and this is a fact data. And also the subscribers using other carriers, but for the destination for switching over the device and then the 30.7% are thinking Rakuten Mobile as a destination among that 42.3% of the people say that after the announcement of Rakuten Mobile [indiscernible] and they are quite serious of switching their device to Rakuten Mobile network. So we are improving network quality like this.

But the people tend to think that the plan to the subscription is quite cumbersome. So we are improving that process. In July this year, as for DataSIM, very simple sign-up, easy sign-up, and activation was made at minimum 3 minutes is needed for signing up and activation, and we started the service, which is highly appreciated by our users. And we will expand the service and add for voicing. Without EQIYC, the easy sign-up and activation will be possible. that this will be started, and we are aiming for that. And if that person is using Rakuten Finance services, and then there are some limitation that the person is living here. But this kind of the epic-making sign-up activation or easy sign-up process will be contributing to increase the application of new users.

And as network quality improvement and the streamlining application processes. So we'll be accelerated toward autumn of this year. And at that time, we were thinking of new marketing initiatives to be launched so that we can accelerate the things. In terms of the line that has opened B2B, B2C, the number of subscribers, we have JPY 4.81 million in total. So the second quarter, the net increase is a total of 240,000. So again, it's now on a growing trend as of now. And this single month of July at 100,000, we were able to add on top. So end of July, we have 4.91 million. So the third quarter, we believe that more than the second quarter, we will be able to seek a larger growth rate.

And on top of that, interim churn rate, again, we have seen a reduction in decline. After the announcement of Cytoplan part of the in terms of those people who go after the point, this given month that subscribe and lead on the same month, excluding those people, and after the adjustment of the churn rate is 1.4%. So now it has been declined to the level of the industry standard. And again, ARP increase. Again, we are seeing a very robust growth on the ARPU as well. The mobile data ARPU improvement plus some of the option ARPU improvement are also growing very steadily. So together both, we have an ecosystem ARPU uplift, ecosystem ARPU uplift. So Rakuten Mobile, after subscribing and the user supply to Rakuten compared to nonsubscribers within 12 months, Rakuten Ichiba, the money that they spend on Rakuten was totally different, quite significantly.

So what sits on top as a plus is a monthly value, which is an uplift. So in other words, Rakuten Mobile ecosystem of Rakuten, the benefit is quite significant and large as of now. So average data utilization volume is again growing steadily. At the end of June, the average data utilizes exceeding 20 gig. So in the future, the large volume data era that we are foreseeing, YouTube, we live, core streaming, you participate and watch, and Web 3, that's virtual the world of virtual reality is coming around the corner. So these upcoming data explosive era, we need to be prepared for that. So for us, already, unlimited data utilization is a plan and program that we offer today. And of course, in term unlimited data, the value of that is going to be much, much more significant and that is what we are expecting out of this trend.

Cost optimization. Let me report on the progress that we made so far. So as I have and have been described last September in a single month, the monthly cost was maximum. It was JPY 39 billion, and it has been reduced or it will be reduced by JPY 15 billion. So various, of course programs initiatives are implemented. The roaming, of course, cost is one thing. But of course, opening a base station and the construction costs in terms of the outsourcing logistics and human personnel costs, these details. accumulating these areas, we are already underway to reduce the cost. And on top of the customer acquisition cost, we have been reserved utilizing TV commercial and also unperforming shops have been closed. So by doing so, at this time, we are strengthening our cost reduction effort and already this year.

The third quarter target is already being achieved in the second quarter. So that's where we are today. What we have promised in terms of the reduction of JPY 15 billion is now already evident. We will be able to achieve this goal, therefore. And platinum band regarding platinum band, I'm sure this is the area of all of your interest. 700 meg already, we are in due preparation of that. And this year, in fall, 700 meg, the allocation, if we are going to be certified and proved, quick scenario. The first, of course, start on air could be started at the end of this year in December. So this is, of course, with the MIC. If they are going to approve the allocation by the inventory of internal affairs and communication, we are working towards getting approval from MIC as of now.

And on top of that, 800-meg -- these hertz continue to see in parallel, we are considering of these bandwidth 700 meg on top, 800 and 900 meg. Together, these opportunities will be tapped in, in seeking for our optimum network establishment. So that's what we are considering as of now. So in terms of reduction of CapEx, '23, '24, '25, the 3 years, we are going to reduce by JPY 300 billion in terms of reducing the CapEx. This year already in a single year, we have been able to the additional plan of JPY 300 billion will be reduced by JPY 100 billion. So there was JPY 200 billion. So we have been able to achieve this goal.

And just as a reference in this number, as I've said, the platinum band related CapEx partly is already included as an assumption. So platinum band in securing the platinum band, still, there may be additional CapEx that's needed. And that may be of your concern, and we are aware of that. But in our case, the existing base station could be maximized in use. So existing base station, the new antenna and radio is going to be attached. By doing so, it's low cost, but still be able to roll out the service. So furthermore, has been talked about already, it's based on software. So our network is a universal server and software are being utilized. So the software update is going to enable to lower the cost further. So that is something that's viable. So updating with software and updating our software. One of the benefits is, of course, reducing the cost of wanting, but also in terms of minimizing the construction hours and time being spent is another benefit. Of course, we're seeing a rise in terms of securing people and the wages are rising and the update by leveraging this capability, we will also be able to minimize the construction cost and time as well.

And this is the summary slide. So first of all, in terms of revenue, the revenue, of course, is in terms of the number of subscriptions, a number of subscribers, which is B2B, B2C in total, we have JPY 8 million to JPY 100 million. And by multiplying this monthly ARPU figure is going to equal to the revenue. And on top of that, the other devices, MMO, ISP service, other services going to be sitting on top. But basically, this, of course, number of plier multiply by ARPU monthly use value is going to equal to the revenue. So for this, again, sorry to reiterate, but new [indiscernible], the new ROMI contract is going to be concluded. So network quality, therefore, is improving down the road. So on top of that, 700 megahertz platinum band allocation is going to be certified. So further the network will be further improved in coming years.

So on top of that, after all, a large campaign, marketing will be conducted. So we like to seek a high awareness of the so-called Cycoplan -- and on top of that, as I've said already, in terms of easy and handy way of us getting to be surprised and easy way to be activated, no cumbersomeness that also will improve in accelerating the higher subscription and subscribers. So this is the revenue part. And against that, in order to make it black, the surplus, the network, and also in terms of the SG&A costs, how are you going to manage this is a very important area. As you can see, JPY 23 billion to JPY 25 billion per month is the world is what we can be able to achieve. This is feasible. So reducing the cost, at the same time, increasing the number of the subscription and ARPU, so we will be able to achieve breaking even point as quickly as possible. So that will be all for my part. Thank you very much.

[Hiroshi Mikitani, executive]

Okay, the next about the overseas business, Rakuten Symphony business performance to be presented by Sharad.

[Unknown Executive]

[indiscernible] I know time is difficult. So you've shared it I've been part of arms inception. It was deeply involved in all the acquisitions and the formation of Symphony. And of course, as RMIC have been the biggest customer for Symphony and very much familiar with all the product line. Now with this new position in Symphony, I hope to bring the end-to-end delivery and operations experience to play, which will actually benefit our end customer and indirectly will help us to increase the revenue. So let me go over the Q2 achievements.

We have closed quarter of strong progress in both product development and customer acquisition across all business segments. Some of our key highlights for the past quarter on the cloud side, strong traction in channel partner sales for both SIM Cloud storage and SIM Cloud platform products. Among others, we secured a deal with the digital media care company in U.S., successfully deploying Sim cloud storage in many states there. In addition, we closed the global deal with a private 5G channel partner for which we will be providing the underlying cloud platform. On the RAN side, the major focus has been maturing product to make it brownfield more than thousands of new requirements for brownfield operations.

And in this quarter, most of it has been achieved. And in next quarter, we'll be doing the trial with one of the Tier 1 operators. On the OSS BSS side, we have successfully expanded our footprint of our site manager in U.S., and now we have more than 3,000 monthly active users, which we plan to increase to 6,000 in the coming quarter. On the Internet services, we have been finalizing our key B2B contracts with prominent T-cellers in both Japan and Korea for Rakuten Drive. And regarding CPUs, we have added a significant number of partners and customers to grow our ARR to 3.2 million in the past quarter.

We can move to next slide, please. So main focus has been on the overhand side. And while we are continuing to deliver major milestones with our anchor customers, we are working to get our or software ready to concur the massive global brownfield opportunity. Our proven over and maturity in both 4G and 5G is based on more than 25 global successful global POCs and field trials alongside large-scale commercial deployments, of course, in Rakuten Mobile and 11 in Germany. Today, Rakuten Symphony is the leading provider of Oran software to cater to the complex requirements of large brownfield environments.

Our strategy to conquer the brownfield space is based on 2 phases. First, to reach future parity, which I said we are almost there, and the commercial deployment of with 1 Tier 1 operator. And then after that, we'll scale it for Oran global footprint by engaging for the brownfield opportunities. Next slide. Coming to our financial results. While our revenue has decreased Y-o-Y, our operating loss has significantly improved. In Q2, we could achieve $72 million, mainly driven by delivery with our existing global customers. Y-o-Y, this represents a decrease of 18.5% mainly due to the seasonality and lumpines of large B2B revenues. We expect a significant revenue increase in the next 2 quarters along with delivery of major milestones with our anchor customers.

Our key financial goal remains to achieve profitability. Next slide, please. Last week we were in Rakuten optimism, we announced that we have signed a memorandum of understanding with Veon. We'll start exploring cooperation in the Ukraine with the goal of exiting the reconstruction of the country's infrastructure through collaboration on open radio access network and digital services. So with that said, we have in Q3, the main objective is to have ncin operate. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. Now I would like to talk about the Internet service. My name is Takeda. I would like to report on our service. So this quarter, the sales and revenue -- the revenue and profit we were able to grow. So this is the number that we were able to attain. Especially in terms of the total GMS, it's a 2-digit 10% growth, JPY 1.45 trillion is what we were able to achieve. And looking into the content, in terms of revenue, plus 13.5%, and operating income is plus 12%. We were able to grow our business. And especially within that, the highlight is that you see the core Ichiba and travel, we have seen significant growth after COVID, the seasonal changes, and each of the merchant, they're quite unique product offering has been reflected in a good promotion.

And the point scheme. And as you can see on the right, a larger core sales event. Some stimulus has been proven to be very successful. And as you can see, in 2G years, 23.8% growth with a large discount sales event, we were able to achieve this goal. And that then to travel, as you may know, supporting the national promotion -- travel promotion program, we have been able to grow with that against 2019 before COVID, it's plus 36%. So many travelers have enjoyed our service, especially amongst that, in terms of the area of investment into logistics business with JP, we were working with Japan Post. And in terms of domestic EC, growth, 17.3%. We have been able to grow the revenue. And at the same time, something that needs to be highlighted is the number of sort of merchant on the contract is plus 32.5%, and shipment volume is plus 62.9%.

On large momentum had been created. So logistics around the world, the changes that we see in transformation and service improvement, especially the super sale large discount sales, we had the next-day shipment, which we were able to realize. So that is the reason why we have created this great wave. And also inventories are the sort that has inventory compared to those stores do not have inventory, 9.1p, they had been able to grow their business. And in the future, the last 1 mile also need to be improved in order to see for higher growth in the operating income.

And the other factor is the overall domestic EC business, where are we against the other competitors. So as you can see here, the other competitors only growing by 1 digit. And at the same timing, we were able to grow 12.3%, a very robust growth having attained by us. And at the same time, in areas of fashion compared to ZOZO, the size is 2.5-fold, inclusive of merchant, acute fashion inclusive of that is 2.5-fold or greater, and JPY 1.1 trillion, we will soon be able to achieve. In other words, on the side, still, we are growing by 9% year-on-year.

And also alongside with that, the advertising business, utilizing data and the various brand and tie up with a lot of merchants, 12.7% growth we were able to achieve in 2023, it is going to achieve JPY 200 billion. So the major TV broadcasting company and compared to the immediate media, it is on par in terms of the level of the scale that we were able to achieve. So utilizing leveraging data, we would like to further grow the end of our business. And also on global, the other Internet services, as Mikitani explained, Rakuten each of international brands, recent, Cobalt, Viber, Viki, are also growing, as you can see, and we were able to acquire many membership. That's all for the Internet business.

[Unknown Executive]

Good afternoon, everyone. And as for Fintech segment, Hosaka will be presenting. And as you can see from the chart and each of the company performing pretty well. And the overall, as for the revenue, JPY 481 million and plus 13.3% Y-o-Y and operating income, JPY 33 billion, plus 31.2%. so a very large number. And first of all, looking at the revenue side. And the last Q2 was JPY 159.8 billion. But now in total this year was JPY 181 billion and the Rakuten Card, first. So the -- their shopping GTV is very large, and the speed was 16.3% Y-o-Y growth and the Rakuten Bank with the growth of the Rakuten Card, the de profit increased and also with loan, and they are steadily increasing the profit and the Rakuten Securities and overall, the market was performing well.

This is a big factor. As Mikitani mentioned, continuously stable the revenue making we are trying to change the structure for that. And then the payment well, now we have increased the business revenue business, and then we can expect more from Rakuten Payment business and operating profit and the JPY 25.2 billion last year and went up to JPY 33 billion this year. And the Rakuten Card contribute profoundly to this and Rakuten Bank, we listed Rakuten Bank, and also we are preparing for the listing for the Rakuten securities, and these are making a quite high growth and then saving cost, controlling costs, and making a lot of profit. So as for the membership growth and the Rakuten Card is getting closer to JPY 30 million issuance.

And with the steady growth from Rakuten Card, we want to leverage the ecosystem aggressively and Rakuten Bank account is getting closer to JPY 50 million, which is JPY 40.05 million and the Rakuten Securities in our account is getting closer to 10 million, which is JPY 9.24 million. So it is increased by 14.8% Y-o-Y. Last but not least, every time we explained about triple feed progress situation. And as repeated, you said, the 30 million target will be achieved in near future. And then shopping GTV aligned with that. And the most recent 1 year, getting closer to about JPY 20 billion, the target GDV share of the 30% target went to secure the current situation, we are performing steadily, and we are at 23.6% today. That's all from me. Thank you very much.

[Unknown Executive]

I'd like to talk about financial strategy. Hirose and myself will be describing. First of all, sorry to repeat, but our commitment. So these are something that we would like to pursue. In other words, no additional gross debt. So in terms of procurement with the reduced total debt amount, we're going to reduce them. And also interimly controlling the redemption in terms of leveraging the redemption level is something that we'd like to achieve. And in term mid- to long term, we are going to have fivefold of the leverage of the fintech business. And number 2, in this year, in December, the initial call is going to come in in terms of the total JPY 68 billion redemption, we still have to make sure that this is going to be made as we have promised. And in securing cash, good, of course, bank institution, we'd like to enhance the relationship so that we will be able to support us and securing liquidity on this.

And this is Rakuten Mobile funding. Well, in the flow of how we are going to procure cash. So first of all, the Rakuten Group, within the group, the free cash flow is going to be increased. Internet service, the free cash is going to be increased. At the same time, each of the procurement of the debt is going to be done. And also fintech is already independent in procuring in this debt. But dividend and management of core fees, we have JPY 70 billion in terms of revenue that has been derived out. So this is also -- is going to be the cash that is going to be pulled within that. So again, the overall group, the cash management, this is included. So therefore, we're going to exchange cap and also we are going to look into the dividend and also the management of that altogether.

And Rakuten Mobile has our own, of course, a way of lease financing, ECA financing, and also securitization of liquidation. So within the group, we would like to make sure that the Latin mobile characteristics, we would like to make sure that we have a firm grasp of the management of the cash. So in terms of the histograph you see the Latin mobile in terms of the funding, the overall is going down and the CapEx also will be contained and improvement of the business, we will be able to reduce this amount extensively. On the other hand, Rakuten as I've said, internal cash flow funding in terms of inclusive of those nonperforming, we're not going to depend on outside funding, but we're going to be self-sufficient in our funding.

So in terms of the maturity of the corporate bond, equity-related financing will be able to reduce the debt at the same time, partly the maturity laddering is going to be utilized in the standardization of this. So it's been very brief, but this was my description of the financial strategy going forward.

[Unknown Executive]

Good afternoon, everyone. Similar to Sharad, my last team is also difficult to pronounce. My life stem is CAI and it stands for conversation AI. Today, I'm very excited to share with you our AI strategy as we talk about at the optimism conference, open AI and Rakuten will collaborate to develop state-of-the-art AI services. And OpenAI will provide priority access and support of their latest AI technology and Rakuten Group will also provide Rakuten AI services into Cha GPT by leveraging open-eplugging architecture.

In addition, we will jointly develop mutually beneficial economic opportunities and pushing the frontier of AI technology. Together, we hope to bring more value to our customers, merchants and business partners. So here's our strategy is to leverage our unique data and latest AI technology is our existing channel. Data and technology is not enough. -- channel makes us easily reach our customers. On data, we have an opportunity to combine the world knowledge of open AI with customer contact of Rakuten as well as enterprise knowledge of Rakuten.

The enterprise knowledge is come from tens of thousands of professionals in multiple industry. Disease are not average human reviewers that typically AI company employs. These are professionals, insurance agent, e-commerce consultant travel agent with deep knowledge in multiple domain, combined with our operational excellence, we can continue to grow our data asset and enhance the AI model. And generative VI has been a magic tool. We have seen generate can produce sons and create Pom and generate essays. It is a magical tool, but we can do more than that. We can augment generate with our existing tools from search, from merchant, so it has real-time information, real-time pricing, real-time inventory.

So customer is easier to make purchase decisions. At Rakuten, we have been developing the deep learning technology so that our search, our recommendation is much more relevant. Deepened learning technology is a proven technology that search engine has been deployed for years. But what's unique about Rakuten is it's transaction data. Transaction data is high quality, much higher quality than click data, typically you can find on the web with high-quality transaction data, we can train the model to develop much high-quality search result, but also in a much more efficient way.

And also by leveraging the existing channel of Rakuten, we can make the technology accessible to millions of customers and tens of thousands of business partners in Japan and around the world. We have issued 3.6 trillion points. We have over 6 million locations with Rakuten Pay. That rich online offline makes the technology easily accessible to our customers, merchants, and business partners. With all the data AI technology, we can build a flywheel so that every interaction with our customer is AI first, professionally reviewed and customer validated. And security and privacy is at the core of our operation. It's not only necessary to comply with regulation and government requirement, but it's also an opportunity to earn customer trust every day.

For businesses, security and privacies also opened up a new opportunity for us to offer secure and private services to our business partners. We are putting our strategy into rapid action. In the last few months, we have been prototyping with consumer applications, business applications and also figure out a way to optimize our corporate functions. And let me show you some examples. Rakuten Viber has Chat GPT integrated into the conversation experience. So you can easily access Chat GPT from Record & Viber. We have launched English version in February and a Japanese surge in May. And today, millions of messages have been exchanged with [indiscernible].

And recently, we also launched consumer services through Rakuten Security, so people can ask investment questions, get educated about investment knowledge so everybody can participate in the investment opportunity. And as we also mentioned at the Rakuten Optimus Conference, we are leveraging the AI technology to help insurance agents to easily discover knowledge, help them drive content, communicating with their customers so they cannot only sell insurance, but also sell Rakuten Mobile as well and also help them to have more free time to interact with our customers, have more face and face time.

So in the next few months, we will focus on recruiting AI technology for businesses. And then in the third wave, we will bring AI technology to our consumers. Rakuten offers a lot of unique advantage to take advantage of AI technology, not only the unique data we have talked about existing channels and our culture of innovation, and all of that have attracted open AI to be our partner on technology. Our ability to execute our engineering capability to prototype has proven to be a great asset for us to build partnership with world leader in technology. So as we have seen that the human is super with emotion, empathy, and creativity, and AI is super good at Synthesis large amount of information and create draft and automate tasks by combining both, we have unlimited potential to create new value for our customer, merchant, and society. Thank you.

[Hiroshi Mikitani, executive]

That concludes the presentation for the account earning call. Thank you very much, all of you.