It’s Friday afternoon, half the team has clocked off, and I’ve got places to be – and Robert Curran at Appledore Research can say it better. Here’s his review of Rakuten Mobile’s results: “Revenues declining, capex cuts, margins squeezed, rising network costs? Not if you’re Rakuten Mobile. Its 2025 figures show it bucking the trend in telecom, growing revenue by almost 10 percent year-on-year, subscriber numbers to over 10 million, and increasing ARPU (slightly). The mobile business also celebrated its first full year of operating profitability.”
He gets in the weeds with the numbers, as Juan Pedro does in his write-up, linked below. Rakuten will almost ‘triple’ its 2025 capex in 2026 to improve network coverage and performance; its operating costs have meanwhile remained flattish. Curran calls it a “validation of its early choices and faith in cloud, software and openness – and its relentless drive for automation”. He concludes: “While most of the industry proceeds cautiously on AI, Rakuten is all-in, and using it to create synergies… [and drive] three-times more impact on profit from the use of AI in 2026 than in 2025.”
James Blackmann
Executive Editor
RCR Wireless News
RCR Top Stories
Two Vodafones: From global deployments at Vodafone Business to policy gridlock at Vodafone Idea, the private 5G market looks both more mature and more fragile than it did a year ago. The numbers are improving, slowly, but there is work to do.
Rakuten in black: Rakuten Mobile has reported its first full-year EBITDA profit, narrowed operating losses and surpassed 10 million subscribers, while planning more than JPY200 billion in capex in fiscal year 2026 to strengthen its network.
Human in the loop: Keysight says fully autonomous networks remain distant, stressing that AI needs human oversight to ensure reliability, guardrails, and accountability as networks evolve toward autonomy.
5G SA in the UK: Virgin Media O2 has launched 5G SA in Manchester and surrounding towns, extending the next-generation network to more than 500 UK locations as part of a broader mobile transformation program.
AI-RRM in Wi-Fi 7: Instead of relying on static configurations, AI-powered radio management capabilities in Wi-FI systems adjust key parameters such as transmit power, channel width, antenna selection, and client steering and load balancing.
AI-Powered Telecom Infrastructure
Supermicro, in collaboration with NVIDIA, delivers AI-powered infrastructure tailored for telcos, enhancing operational efficiency, network management, and customer experiences. Explore now
Beyond the Headlines
Cisco AI switch: Cisco has unveiled the a 102.4 Tbps network switch chip and systems to boost data-center networking for large-scale AI workloads. It offers enhanced throughput, congestion handling, programmability, efficiency gains.
Wi-Fi security checks: Wi-Fi security isn’t just about ticking WPA3 and 6 GHz boxes. Recent findings show real-world deployments – especially in MDUs – face deeper gaps between certification and true protection.
T-Mo stretches lead: T-Mobile US ended 2025 as the growth leader. But Verizon and AT&T leaned on scale, profitability, and broadband expansion – highlighting a carrier battle increasingly defined by bundling and long-term monetization.
Voda trumpets P5G: Vodafone has 173 private 5G deployments in 19 countries, new vendor additions (likely Ericsson), and has delivered a candid verdict on the industry’s slow start: too much about big-ticket tech, too little about SMEs.
Vi on Indian P5G: UPTIME forum highlighted Asia Pacific’s fragmented regulatory barriers for private 5G – in India, in particular, where Vodafone Idea argues IT/OT integration and use-case planning failures have hit take-up.
What We're Reading
RCR AI infra report: A new RCR report says AI infrastructure challenges include power, networks, data readiness, governance, and cost; organisations that operate AI across cloud, edge, and regulated environments will succeed, it concludes.
Network API boost: Telefónica and Nokia are to use agentic AI to speed up adoption of network APIs, making it easier for developers and partners to access and build services on telecom networks and support broader API-driven innovation.
Colt goes west, too: Following its Middle East news last week, Colt has said it will also boost its US network with new high-bandwidth fibre routes and expanded transatlantic subsea connectivity to Europe, meeting surging AI demand.
Risky bonds for AI: Nvidia is to lease a 200 MW data center in Nevada built with proceeds from a $3.8 billion junk-bond sale – showing investors are accepting more risk in exchange for higher returns as demand for AI computing remains strong.
RANsemi + Radisys: The two companies will combine RANsemi’s software-defined baseband with Radisys 5G RAN and core software, creating secure, resilient, and rapidly deployable 5G systems for mission-critical environments.
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Industry Resources
Webinar, September 18th
The journey to a fully autonomous network – The evolution of network automation and how Amdocs is leading the way
