Hiroshi Mikitani is the founder and chief executive of Rakuten. Keith Bedford/BloombergHiroshi Mikitani, founder and CEO of Rakuten, added $760 million in net worth to his portfolio on Thursday. His shares of the Japanese e-commerce company soared after its first mobile network agreement in Europe.Tokyo-based Rakuten announced it would offer its low-cost virtual 5G telecoms technology 1&1. According to Nikkei Asia, Rakuten will be receiving between $2.29 billion & $2.74 billion in the next 10 year through this deal.Rakuten shares rose by 8% to 1,358 Japanese yen ($12.4) Thursday. Mikitani's fortune is now $7.7 Billion on the Real-Time Billionaires List. This makes him the sixth-richest person living in Japan.Mikitani spent $5.5 billion in 2019 to create a new telecom network. This network will disrupt Japan's three-way mobile phone oligopoly of KKDI and NTT Docomo.Contrary to traditional networks that are usually managed by one provider, RANs function in the cloud and are controlled by software. RANs can reduce operating and maintenance costs by as much as 30%. They also allow operators to collaborate with different manufacturers because they are free from hardware-vendor lock in.Rakuten launched its RAN network mobile network in Japan in April 2020. This technology will allow 1&1 to become the fourth largest carrier in Germany, according the announcement.Mikitani, a Forbes Asia spokesperson, stated that Rakuten hoped to use the 100 million Japanese customers who already used Rakuten's e-commerce and credit cards, internet banking services, online trading, and content, to allow them to also use the mobile service. Rakuten wanted to create a new Japanese telecom network in Japan in half the time and for a fraction of the cost it would have to build one.Forbes Asia, in 2019, he said that our operation is smaller than those of our competitors and that we can enhance the service by using the existing Rakuten ecosystem. People don't really care about whether it is NTT, SoftBank, or Rakuten. It's all about connectivity, speed and price, as well as what extra services we can offer.Rakuten announced the acquisition of Altiostar Networks (a U.S.-based mobile tech company) on Thursday. Altiostar Networks operates RAN networks. Rakuten made a separate announcement that the partnership will accelerate the deployment of virtualized software-centric services for the mobile sector around the world.Mikitani stated in a statement that we are entering a new era of mobile network operators being able to choose how to build and implement a network. He said this by working with some of the most innovative software companies around to create interoperable and open solutions.Rakuten raised $2.2B in March by issuing shares to Japan Post and Walmart.
