Rakuten Details Plan to Fight Back Against Amazon, SoftBank
- Japan’s e-commerce portal launching wireless carrier next year
- Mobile network details to be announced within a few months
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Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. is offering a glimpse into its ambitious plan to build a cutting-edge wireless network to take on Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp., stay in the lead in mobile payments and win back market share from Amazon.com Inc.
The new mobile business, slated for debut next year, will tie together the company’s disparate portfolio of about 80 different services, Chief Operating Officer Kentaro Hyakuno said in an interview. The convenience of using one ID for everything from shopping and booking travel to paying the bills will attract new customers as well as convince its more than 90 million registered users to spend more on the platform, he said.