Rakuten made its presence felt at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024, the world’s largest mobile and connectivity event. Spanning four days at Barcelona's Fira Gran Via, this year's MWC provided a platform to announce a number of key updates with customers and partners from across the globe. Here's a rundown of the global partnerships that were announced throughout the show.
Rakuten kicked off Day 1 of MWC Barcelona 2024 by announcing the signing of a Letter of Intent with Ukraine’s largest telecommunications operator, Kyivstar. The signing confirms Kyivstar’s intent to use Rakuten’s Open RAN and 5G technologies to help rebuild Ukraine's digital infrastructure. The companies intend to take first steps for the deployment within 2024.
Kaan Terzioglu, Group CEO of VEON, Kyivstar’s parent company, said of the signing, “We are now in the implementation phase of our 600 million USD investment commitment for the reconstruction of Ukraine. I share the excitement of our Kyivstar team, under the leadership of Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov, in working with Rakuten to rebuild the country’s infrastructure with Open RAN as a part of this commitment. We have a shared passion for building Ukraine’s digital future and I’m glad to see the progress in our joint effort.”
Rakuten and Kyivstar signed the letter in the presence of Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan, and Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, held in Tokyo on Feb 19.
Rakuten Group and OpenAI announced a partnership to develop and deliver cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools designed specifically for telecom. Rakuten will collaborate with OpenAI to create solutions to address the unique needs and challenges of operators when planning, building and managing mobile networks. The Rakuten AI platform will be expanded to include solutions for customer service, network optimization and predictive maintenance of telecom networks. Rakuten AI will enhance operators' ability to detect and resolve network issues in near real-time, enabling more responsive and adaptive network operations while improving service reliability and performance for customers.
Rakuten Symphony announced that the UK government has procured its Open RAN technology for use in the United Kingdom Telecoms Lab (UKTL). The UKTL, a state-of-the-art facility that has received £80 million of UK government investment, is operated by the National Physical Laboratories (NPL) - a center of excellence that is testing and validating the security, interoperability and performance of Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN technology.
Rakuten Symphony will supply its 5G standalone and 5G non-standalone RAN software, underlying cloud-native software platform and RAN management solution, in addition to hardware from three different third-party hardware vendors, covering 5G massive MIMO antennas, 4G Radio Units and COTS servers. Future testing will also be extended to include Rakuten Symphony’s near-real-time and non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller software, which streamlines open radio access networks (Open RAN) by enabling automation and programmability of the network and its services.
Julia Lopez, Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure, United Kingdom, gave a glowing endorsement of the announcement, “Having Rakuten Symphony's tech deployed at this facility is great news for UKTL and is a major validation of the UK’s position as the home of tech innovation,” she said. “By putting new software and hardware through its paces, suppliers will be able to bring tried-and-tested products to market, strengthening our telecoms network, powering the creation of specialized jobs, and advancing digital skills.”
NOW Telecom and Rakuten Symphony signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a collaborative framework for the deployment of a 5G Open RAN Pilot Deployment in the Philippines. Under the terms of the agreement, Rakuten Symphony and NOW will collaborate with the aim of developing disaggregated networks and open interfaces in the South-East Asian country. Both Parties will contribute expertise, resources and technology to jointly develop solutions for NOW Telecom’s network.
NOW Telecom Chairman Mel Velasco Velarde said, "Our partnership with Rakuten, the force behind Japan's 4th mobile operator and a key player in launching Germany's newest mobile network, signifies a pivotal moment for NOW Telecom. This collaboration is instrumental in our mission to unveil a secured 5G network in the Philippines. Together, we are dedicated to transforming the telecom industry and establishing a standard for open, interoperable and secure networks across the Indo-Pacific region.”
Adding to the company’s eventful MWC week, Rakuten Symphony announced that Telecom Egypt, the country’s first fully integrated telecom operator, marked a historic milestone with the first successful trial call via Open RAN technology in North Africa in collaboration with Rakuten Symphony, Cisco, and the global Telecom Infra Project (TIP). The “seamless” integration of Rakuten's Symphony vRAN software - complemented by the deployment of cloud-native (vCU) and (vDU) -showcases Telecom Egypt's vision of moving toward the cloudification of telco workloads.
Rakuten Symphony, Cisco and Telecom Infra Project played pivotal roles in the project, demonstrating the power of collaboration in building a fully cloud-native platform. Their partnership helped to reveal the true potential of Open RAN technology in transforming Radio Access Networks into an open and fully interoperable RAN.
Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Telecom Egypt, said, “This achievement is a testament to our commitment to innovate and serve our customers. It also represents a new historic achievement for Telecom Egypt as a result of continuous planning, strong determination and dedication to pushing the boundaries of connectivity.”
