As the world’s largest connectivity event signs off from Barcelona, Rakuten celebrates another impactful year at MWC Barcelona 2025, an event which drew around 110,000 attendees this year.
During the show, Rakuten made several major announcements, hosted important discussions and showcased industry leading demos of our products and solutions that benefit mobile network operators globally. Here’s a look at some of our key highlights at MWC Barcelona 2025.
On Sunday March 2, Rakuten kicked off the week early at the Rakuten TV HQ in Barcelona with an exclusive media and industry analyst event. Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani shared the journey of Rakuten and his insights behind launching the world’s most unique mobile network in Japan. Rakuten Mobile co-CEO and Rakuten Symphony President Sharad Sriwastawa then took the stage to introduce Rakuten Symphony’s new Real Open RAN Licensing Program. A panel discussion delved deeper into this initiative, moderated by AvidThink Founder and Principal Roy Chua alongside Sharad, Masum Mir from Cisco and Diane Rinaldo from the Open RAN Policy Coalition.
Since inception, Rakuten Symphony has proven that Intelligent Growth is essential for securing success in an ever-changing telecom landscape. At MWC, we showcased how this strategy, which combines digital business fundamentals with telecom expertise, and our solutions and tools, can make Intelligent Growth a reality in telecom networks of the future.
During the show, Rakuten Symphony also announced that Cisco, Airspan, and Tech Mahindra had become the first partners for our “Real Open RAN Licensing Program,” signifying a big step towards driving Open RAN adoption among vendors and mobile operators globally.
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Rakuten Symphony further announced reseller partnerships with Isbel and sustainable network transformation company, Odine.
Isbel became Rakuten Symphony's value-added reseller for Latin America delivering Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN, Cloud and OSS solutions to mobile network operators in the region, while the collaboration with Odine, marks a significant step in accelerating the adoption of cutting-edge solutions in Turkey and the Middle East and African regions. Udai Kanukolanu, Rakuten Symphony's Global Head of Sales, highlighted that this signals Rakuten Symphony’s commitment to supporting mobile network operators globally by delivering cutting-edge solutions and accelerate transition to cloud-native telecom infrastructures.
Rakuten Symphony also announced the extension of our strategic alliance with Google Cloud with the Rakuten Cloud-Native Storage now being available on the Google Cloud Marketplace. This accelerates global access to Rakuten Symphony’s cutting-edge cloud storage solutions and “will help customers quickly deploy, manage, and grow the storage solution on Google Cloud's trusted, global infrastructure," according to Dai Vu, Managing Director, Marketplace & ISV GTM Programs at Google Cloud.
Rakuten leaders took the stage for over 40 booth theatre sessions, sharing their thoughts on some of telecom's biggest challenges and opportunities - AI, Open RAN, Automation and more. One of the key highlight sessions featured Mickey Mikitani and CEO of AST SpaceMobile Abel Avellan, who discussed the future of connectivity and the joint goal to offer satellite-to-mobile services across Japan.
Rakuten Symphony President Sharad Sriwastawa also headlined multiple sessions where he shared business updates and Rakuten Symphony projections for 2025, discussed the Open RAN Licensing Program alongside executives from Cisco, Tech Mahindra and Airspan, and sat down for a fireside chat on data monetization.
Another key session at the Rakuten Booth featured the Presidents of Rakuten Symphony’s four Business Units: OSS, RAN, Cloud and Internet Services. Vivek Murthy, Anil Sawkar, Partha Seetala and Ryan Son joined moderator James Dartnell on stage to discuss some of the exciting technological innovations being developed and deployed by their Business Units across our global partners.
Other exciting Booth Theatre sessions included fireside chats with our CTO Raghu Hariharan, our Global Head of Sales Udai Kanukolanu, launches of the OSS BU solutions Site Manager and Intelligent Ops 2.0, as well as many moderated conversations featuring our customers and partners.
The 2025 Rakuten Booth featured an inspiring look, complete with the bold Rakuten crimson red. Interactive screen demos by Rakuten experts, giant LED screens showcasing our recent accomplishments, a dedicated booth theatre space which hosted over 40 sessions with Rakuten and other global industry experts, the booth had it all. This year, we also leaned into our Japanese heritage, with visible elements spread across the booth, including a dedicated food and beverages counter where servers in traditional wear provided visitors with matcha teas, coffees, cheesecakes and other small bites.
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Rakuten NEO, won the 2025 GLOMOs, a prestigious award celebrating the innovations which shape our connected future, in the category "Best Mobile Innovation for Digital Life." A product of the Internet Services Business Unit, Rakuten Neo is an effective way to manage unmanned workplace spaces via AI-based space operation automation technology.
As we reflect on this year’s event, we are grateful to all of our partners, customers and every single visitor who dropped by our booth. We look forward to continuing our conversations through 2025 and beyond, helping networks achieve business success and help the telecom industry get started on its path towards Intelligent Growth.
