Open RAN promised significant benefits to the telecom industry. By converting networks to software-based Open RAN architectures, MNOs can experience benefits including lower cost, service agility, deployment flexibility and automation/orchestration.
To answer this question, we teamed up with industry analyst Stéphane Téral on a white paper that dives into a real-world experience of Rakuten Mobile, arguably the most advanced user of Open RAN in the industry. Check out the full details here.
The white paper was published at the same time that Rakuten Mobile announced that it had reached “a new phase of profitability” – after just over five years of operation. While the details are in the paper, what is interesting is that the 9.6% sales increase was driven by both increased mobile subscribers and also higher average revenue per user (ARPU), leveraging the larger Rakuten ecosystem to drive customer traction.
In fact, this ecosystem of more than 70 e-commerce, fintech and other consumer businesses provides customers with options for add on services that generate revenue above the mobile subscription. In 2025, the average Rakuten Mobile customer used 2.43 other Rakuten services.
Téral looks deeper into these results and his own research to see if Open RAN delivers on the hype and how.
The white paper explains that Rakuten Mobile’s Capex costs for building the network are 40% lower than that of traditional RAN equipment, and that ongoing Opex costs are 30% less. The paper breaks down where these savings come from.
One key to success for Rakuten Mobile is maximizing the use of Open RAN automation and orchestration. These are important for network deployment (day 0) in addition to ongoing network operation (day 1 and day 2). Extensive automation helped Rakuten Mobile to build its mobile network at a record pace of 200 sites per day. By the time the network was complete, the company had implemented zero touch provisioning for ongoing zero-touch management using OSS automation software from Rakuten Symphony.
The paper goes into detail on the role and value of automated interoperability testing of ORAN-compliant radios. Rakuten Symphony has developed a unique process to quickly validate an ecosystem of open radio vendors. This ecosystem allows Rakuten Symphony to deliver the right radio for each customer deployment. The system was instrumental in the rapid rollout of radios in the Rakuten Mobile network. The company deployed more than 350,000 macro and small cells with radios from seven vendors throughout the network.
The last few sections of the white paper examine the growth and future of Open RAN. The analyst calls 2025 “the trigger year” where tier one MNOs make significant Open RAN deployments. He points to commitments by AT&T, 1&1, Deutsche Telekom, Grameenphone, STL Mobitel, MobiFone and Zain Kuwait.
Open RAN has shown it can scale and that it delivers on the technology’s early promises. This has been proven at Rakuten Mobile and other early adopter networks in such a dramatic fashion that it has attracted some of the market leaders in the industry. To dive more deeply into the numbers and strategy of the Rakuten Mobile roll out, download the white paper here.
