Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin reflects on his recent visit to India, plans for the company's new Global Innovation Lab in Bengaluru and the very first Rakuten Symphony SyncUps in Bengaluru and Indore, employee events to celebrate local successes and share the vision for the future of the company.
As we look ahead to the next stage of our industry, I am confident that the future will be open, automated, software-centric and cloud-native. The rise of these technologies will democratize the industry and bring billions of people around the world online in the process. And this future — which Rakuten Symphony is helping to realize — will be powered in significant ways by remarkable talent and technology from India.
I first visited India eight years ago, when I decided to move to Mumbai to transform the country’s telco sector with Reliance Jio. The four years I spent in India, traveling throughout the country, were unlike anything I had ever seen. The riot of colors, sounds and festivities…the energy and vibrancy of the people around me was incredible.
Visiting Rakuten Symphony’s Bengaluru and Indore offices brought all those memories flooding back. Spending several days in India I saw first-hand the remarkable skill of our workforce on display. This visit reinforced my belief that the work we are putting in will undeniably lead to even greater successes as we keep breaking barriers in the global telecom industry.
From our intelligent operations team to our digital operations, Symworld Platform, Symworld Network teams, and many others, I was blown away by the innovation and expertise on display in India.
We currently have more Rakuten Symphony employees based in India than any other region. And we’re making meaningful investments to continue our growth.
"The new facility, spread over 400,000 sq. feet will provide a dedicated office space for our growing team and foster a campus environment to inspire us."
During this trip, I was honored to announce that Rakuten Symphony will have a new home in Bengaluru later this year, along with a new, state-of-the-art Global Innovation Lab. The leadership team and I had the opportunity to tour the new space and its facilities first-hand and I am eagerly awaiting the day we get to move in. The new facility, spread over 400,000 sq. feet, will provide a dedicated office space for our growing team and offer a campus environment to inspire us.
"I have no doubt that this team will continue to drive Rakuten Symphony to greater heights, with hard work, enthusiasm and unity."
The Global Innovation Lab will be able to re-create the entire network architecture in a simulated environment, from RAN to Core to transport, enabling function and performance testing. This space will be a showcase for Symworld, demonstrating the platform’s performance and capabilities to current and future customers. It will complement and expand upon Rakuten Symphony’s existing RAN network functions lab in Bengaluru and the Rakuten Cloud Innovation Lab in Tokyo, allowing for global end-to-end testing of apps across the Symworld portfolio. We already have plans to establish facilities for 6G infrastructure R&D as well.
After what I saw and experienced in a whirlwind visit back to India, I have no doubt that this team will continue to drive Rakuten Symphony to greater heights, with hard work, enthusiasm and unity. I wish everyone who has not yet experienced Indian hospitality gets the chance to visit this incredible country at least once.
To my colleagues across the region, all I can say is “Dhanyavad!” I look forward to building the future of telecom with you, side-by-side.
