The CCA Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas, from September 15-17, 2025, was a dynamic event for regional operators struggling with an increasingly complex and demanding telecommunications landscape. As highlighted in our conference preview story, our involvement in the convention was aimed at showcasing how automation and an open ecosystem can position these carriers for success.
The discussions and dialogue throughout the convention underscored one daunting and clear motif: regional operators need to do more with less.
This mandate is driven by several factors, including increasing customer expectations, the voracious need for additional bandwidth, and the constant challenge of juggling these growth curves using limited personnel and finite budget. Regional carriers, which have smaller personnel and tighter budgets than national carriers, are under tremendous pressure to deliver high-quality, reliable services while chasing new revenue streams and optimizing existing infrastructure.
It was this same challenge that was the basis of our conversations at the Rakuten Symphony booth. We saw keen interest in how automation could be the key to lessening the burden on these carriers. Several operators stopped for detailed conversations and 1:1 demos of our OSS platform. The reality that our OSS could simplify operational complexity, like zero-touch provisioning, resonated with them. Think about the possibility of automating routine tasks that previously consumed valuable human hours – from network configuration to service activation. This is not only a matter of efficiency; it is a matter of freeing qualified personnel to consider strategic initiatives and customer innovation, rather than being bogged down in manual processes.
Our open ecosystem philosophy, a cornerstone of Rakuten Symphony's philosophy, was also underscored by the welcome presence of our partners, 1Finity and Supermicro, at our booth. Their presence allowed us to tell a whole story about how a broad array of best-in-class solutions can be stitched together seamlessly to create an automated, resilient network. This openness is essential for regional carriers who need agile, scalable solutions that are not tied to a single vendor.
One of the highlights of our participation was the seminar, "Automated software-driven cloud-native networks – real-world best practices," which drew a big audience eager to listen to industry specialists. Moderated by Sandeep Panthula, Head of Technical Sales, Americas, Rakuten Symphony, the panel was dense in expertise.
Anshul Bhatt, Head of Business, OSS, Americas, Rakuten Symphony, emphasized that "the right processes around automation are a must for any carrier." He drew a forceful analogy to the evolution of mobile app stores, which were closed systems initially. When opened, their popularity soared, demonstrating the power of an open ecosystem. Bhatt argued that the same principle applies to network operators: embracing the open network mentality, facilitated by robust automation, can bring unmatched success and innovation.
Rakuten Mobile RAN Chief Architect Vinay Vij stressed the essential priority of a forward-thinking approach to automation, whereby "automation has to be a practice from day 1 of operations." Not an afterthought, but a primary foundation for building efficient and resilient networks. Vij also underscored the pivotal role Open RAN must play in enabling this level of automation, providing the architectural openness that will allow dynamic and software-driven operations.
Dr. Femi Adeyemi, VP Strategic Product Management, 1Finity, confirmed the cross-industry shift to open architectures, noting that "every RFP he sees includes Open RAN as a requirement." This indicates that there is overt market demand for the flexibility and vendor diversity enabled by Open RAN. Dr. Adeyemi continued to describe how "with a best of breed approach, operators can turn to automation to bring all the pieces together," effectively addressing the challenge of integrating various technologies together into an open framework.
The real-world impact of automation was realized by Wes Burnett, CTO, Viaero. He gave a strong example of how cell site provisioning that took days can now be accomplished in 30 minutes using automation. Such a drastic reduction in deployment time translates directly into faster service delivery, improved customer satisfaction, and significant cost savings – a direct answer to the "do more with less" challenge.
The CCA Annual Convention was an excellent opportunity for Rakuten Symphony to engage with the regional carriers and understand their individual pain points. The enormous interest in our OSS platform, the lively debate on automation, and the compelling arguments from our panelists only reinforced our belief that an automated, cloud-native, and open ecosystem approach is not a future vision, but an immediate necessity for these operators. We look forward to continuing the productive discussions initiated at the event with these forward-thinking operators and ushering them into a future, where doing more with less is not just possible, but the new standard.
