Seeing Rakuten Mobile as a Tool for Using Rakuten Services, Not Just a Phone Line: How Much Does It Change Per Month? I Ran the Numbers, Including SPU, U-NEXT and YouTube Premium

Talk about Rakuten Mobile often starts with “Does the signal connect?”

That matters, of course. But there is another way to look at Rakuten Mobile: as a tool for using other Rakuten services at a better price.

In this article, I use that view to calculate how much it changes per month. I’m assuming people who spend tens of thousands of yen a month on Rakuten Ichiba (Rakuten’s online shopping mall), and people who use U-NEXT (a Japanese video streaming service) or YouTube Premium.

A disclosure first. I’m an employee of Rakuten Group, and the links in this article include employee referral links. Even so, I’ll write the conditions under which it is not worth it with the same weight.

The numbers are what was written on the official Rakuten Mobile pages as of October 8, 2026. Anything I couldn’t confirm, I say so.

Bottom line

• If you shop on Rakuten Ichiba, just having a Rakuten Mobile contract gives you +4x on your point multiplier. But the cap is 2,000 points a month, and they are limited-time points
• By my calculation, you reach the 2,000-point cap with about 50,000 yen a month of Rakuten Ichiba shopping (treating 1x as 1%)
• At 30,000 yen a month it’s about 1,200 points; at 10,000 yen a month, about 400 points. This is not a discount on the plan fee. It’s a return in points
• If you hardly shop on Rakuten Ichiba, you can barely use this benefit
• U-NEXT is “worth it if you watch it, a loss if you don’t.” YouTube Premium is a 3-month free trial, not a lasting discount

I’ll lay out the basis in order.

Premise: Rakuten Mobile’s pricing

The official page lists the amounts after the Saikyo Family Discount (Saikyo Kazoku-wari, the family discount) is applied.

For the Saikyo Family Discount, the official page says “110 yen off for anyone in the family.” The amounts without the discount are not printed directly on the page, so they are my calculation, adding back 110 yen.

The calculations in this article all use the amounts without the discount (1,078 yen / 2,178 yen / 3,278 yen). If you can use the family discount, subtract 110 yen from each as you read.

What happens to SPU on Rakuten Ichiba when you contract Rakuten Mobile?

SPU (the Super Point Up Program) is a system where the more Rakuten services you use, the higher your point multiplier goes on Rakuten Ichiba purchases.

These are the conditions for the Rakuten Mobile part that I could confirm on the official Rakuten Mobile page.

• Multiplier: +4x (5x together with the normal 1x)
• Entry is required. You do it by logging in with your Rakuten ID
• Eligible plans: Rakuten Saikyo Plan (Rakuten’s main mobile plan), the same plan (data type), and Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT
• Type of points awarded: limited-time points
• When they are awarded: on the 15th of the month after the month you shopped
• Expiry: 23:59 on the last day of the month after they are awarded
• Earning cap: 2,000 points per month
• As of the date listed: March 26, 2026

From award to use-by is about a month and a half. So what matters more than “I’ve collected points” is “do I have a way to use them up every month?”

The rules for using up limited-time points are summarized in this article. The conditions for paying your phone bill with points are in this article.

Calculation 1: Monthly Rakuten Ichiba spending x SPU (Rakuten Mobile part)

This is the core of the article.

Assumptions (conditions I set)

• I calculate 1x as 1% of the purchase amount. The official page does not say whether the basis is the tax-included or tax-excluded amount
• I treat 1 point as 1 yen
• The purchases are things you were going to buy on Rakuten Ichiba anyway. You don’t buy extra just for points

Converted to a year, that’s about 14,400 pt at 30,000 yen a month and 24,000 pt at 50,000 yen a month.

For reference, the official page says Rakuten Mobile users earn an average of 1,388 points a month (the October 2023 average). That is about the same scale as my calculation (about 1,200 pt at 30,000 yen a month).

Compared with the plan fee

This is the points you get back, subtracted from the plan fee (effective cost). Points aren’t cash, so treat it only as a rough guide.

I want to be clear here. Limited-time points are for use at places like Rakuten Ichiba. It does not mean your phone bill actually becomes 0 yen. The accurate way to read it is “the price of things you were going to buy on Rakuten Ichiba anyway gets cheaper by that amount.”

Calculation 2: Adding Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT

Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT is a plan that bundles the Saikyo Plan with the video service U-NEXT. This is what I could confirm on the official page.

• Monthly fee: 4,378 yen (tax included; the normal amount shown on the page). 4,268 yen with the family discount
• Contents: unlimited video viewing (over 420,000 titles), unlimited magazine reading, and more. Some paid titles also exist
• Calls: domestic calls are free in the app (Rakuten Link) (some numbers are excluded)
• The page says “1,089 yen a month cheaper when bundled”
• After applying, you need to register separately as a U-NEXT member from the URL in the email you receive
• U-NEXT can only be used within Japan, and the service and support are in Japanese

Compared with contracting separately

This matches the official page’s “1,089 yen a month cheaper.”

There are two points to watch here.

1. The difference is about 1,100 yen, compared with adding it to the Saikyo Plan. For someone who doesn’t watch U-NEXT, that means paying about 1,100 yen extra
2. The official page says that people who contract Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT are not eligible for the “1,200 yen worth of U-NEXT points” offer. Check U-NEXT’s own information for whether there are benefits for contracting U-NEXT alone

Combined with 30,000 yen and 50,000 yen of shopping a month

If you already had U-NEXT and also spend 50,000 yen a month on Rakuten Ichiba, the effective difference is about 1,089 yen a month. (The difference between 3,467 yen and 2,378 yen.)

But this assumes “you already use U-NEXT.” If you don’t, this table has no meaning.

First-time benefit

The official page lists the following benefit.

• Contents: a total of 5,000 limited-time points (1,500 pt for the 1st and 2nd times, 2,000 pt for the 3rd)
• Conditions: entry with your Rakuten ID, your first-time application for Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT, and starting use by the end of the month after you apply
• Awarded: starting around the end of the month, 3 months after the month the conditions are met, over up to 3 months
• Validity: 6 months including the award date
• Period: from June 1, 2026 (end date undecided). People who had already contracted before June 1 are not eligible

Because the award starts 3 months later, you don’t get it right away. I haven’t included it in the “monthly effective cost” in the calculations.

Calculation 3: YouTube Premium

The official Rakuten Mobile page has a “YouTube Premium 3-month free campaign.”

• Eligible: users of the Rakuten Saikyo Plan or Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT
• The page says Family plans and student-discount plans are not eligible
• Free period: 3 months. You can cancel for free at any time before it ends
• After the free period: it continues automatically unless you cancel. The monthly fee is 1,280 yen (the page’s figure is as of December 20, 2023, and it doesn’t say whether it includes tax)
• How to apply: get the coupon, then choose “3-month free trial” on the YouTube Premium application page
• People who have previously had a free trial or a paid subscription to YouTube Premium or YouTube Music are not eligible

This is the part most easily misunderstood.

The 3 months free is a trial. The 3 months is worth 1,280 yen x 3 = 3,840 yen, but from the 4th month the normal monthly fee applies.

So I think it’s best to read it like this.

• A good chance for people who want to try ad-free YouTube
• People who already subscribed in another form are not eligible
• Decide whether to continue 7 days before the free period ends (the page says you’ll be notified by email)

It is not the case that “switching to Rakuten Mobile makes YouTube Premium cheaper for good.”

Other benefits (conditional, first-time ones)

These are the ones I could confirm on the “benefits for current users” page. I haven’t included one-time benefits or those with many conditions in the calculations.

• 1,000 pt the first time you use more than 3GB, 1,500 pt the first time you use more than 20GB (entry required)
• For your first time using points on the monthly fee, the point-back rate for the points used is 3x (entry required. The page doesn’t state a cap or similar)
• A +0.10% a year addition to the interest rate on Rakuten Bank yen ordinary deposits (up to 0.74% a year at most, before tax). It is for Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT users, and there are other conditions such as monthly entry. The figure is as of August 3, 2026
• At FamilyMart, 20x Rakuten Points for purchases of 3,000 yen (tax included) or more a month (entry required. They are limited-time points, with conditions such as an award cap)
• If you newly apply for and use Rakuten Denki (Rakuten’s electricity service), 20,000 pt (entry required, conditions apply)
• If you apply for Rakuten Turbo or Rakuten Hikari (Rakuten’s home internet services) for the first time, 1,000 pt every month, permanently (limited-time points, conditions apply)

On the bank interest rate: for example, with 1,000,000 yen in deposits, +0.10% a year is 1,000 yen a year (my calculation, before tax). It isn’t a large amount.

The “giga discount coupon” for Rakuten Card Premium and Black Card members is also named on the official page. However, the data amount and validity period were not written on the pages I could check. This article doesn’t touch on the data amount. If you’re curious, check the card’s official information.

Who it is not worth it for

In my view, people who fit any of the following get little benefit from the “savings” in this article.

1. People who hardly shop on Rakuten Ichiba The +4x SPU assumes shopping on Rakuten Ichiba. If you shop 10,000 yen a month, you get back about 400 pt
2. People who can’t use up limited-time points They expire about a month and a half after being awarded. If you don’t plan to use them each month on Rakuten Ichiba or similar, the effective value drops
3. People who don’t watch U-NEXT Saikyo U-NEXT costs about 1,100 yen more than the Saikyo Plan
4. People who end up buying extra for the points You meant to save, but spending goes up. Think only in terms of “things you were going to buy anyway”
5. People who are unsure about the signal at home or at work Even if the fee and points are a good deal, it means nothing if it doesn’t connect where you need it

Decide first: your own “minimum communication quality”

Before the savings, I think it’s good to decide this.

• At home, at work and on your commute, how far do you need it to connect at a minimum?
• Are calls something where you’d be in trouble if you couldn’t hear, or not so much?
• How much will you use video and tethering?

If you can accept that “the signal doesn’t have to be perfect,” I think Rakuten Mobile is easy to make use of, whether as your main line or a sub line. On the other hand, if work phone calls are critical for you, it’s better to decide carefully.

How to check coverage and what to do when the signal is hard to get are in this article.

Notes when using it as a sub line

You can also use Rakuten Mobile as a sub line. There is one point written on the official page (Rakuten Link).

• With dual SIM, when another carrier’s SIM is set as the voice line, Rakuten Link may not be guaranteed to work

If free calls are your goal, decide which line to use for voice first. The details are summarized in this article.

Rules of thumb for deciding (my view)

Summary

• Contracting Rakuten Mobile gives +4x SPU on Rakuten Ichiba. But with a 2,000 pt monthly cap, limited-time points and entry required
• By my calculation, you reach the cap with about 50,000 yen of shopping a month. About 1,200 pt at 30,000 yen a month
• Saikyo U-NEXT is 1,089 yen a month cheaper than contracting separately. But if you don’t watch it, it’s an extra of about 1,100 yen
• YouTube Premium is a 3-month free trial. From the 4th month, the normal monthly fee
• It isn’t worth it for people who shop little on Rakuten Ichiba, people who can’t use up limited-time points, and people who are unsure about the signal
• First, decide the minimum communication quality you need

Conditions can change. Always check the official page before you apply. The content of this article is as of October 8, 2026.

Source: Rakuten Mobile official site (pages on pricing plans, Rakuten Saikyo U-NEXT, SPU, YouTube Premium, and benefits for current users)

Related articles:

• Why Rakuten Mobile’s fees are low
• Combining Rakuten Bank and Rakuten Mobile
• Rules for using up limited-time points

This article contains affiliate advertising. If you apply for a product or service through links on this site, we may receive compensation from partner companies. Additionally, the operator is an employee of Rakuten Group and may receive compensation through an employee referral program. Article content and evaluations are based on the operator's actual experience and research, regardless of advertising. For details, see the Disclaimer & Affiliate Disclosure. Disclaimer & Affiliate Disclosure

This article contains machine translation. For official terms, please refer to the multilingual pages on the official Rakuten Mobile website.

If you have concerns about Rakuten Mobile's coverage area or signal conditions, you can inquire through the official signal improvement survey request form .