The successful mobile network of tomorrow will not look like the network of today.
Profits are not growing for operators and providing greater bandwidth is not the answer. At MWC 2026, Rakuten talked about a new path forward based on an Intelligent Growth model that breaks the old mold and sets a new course for the industry.
Talking about the impact of Intelligent Growth, Rakuten CEO and Chairman Mickey Mikitani said, “This is a business model transformation, not just a technology shift... Rakuten has shown that when you build a true ecosystem around membership, you create value far beyond transactions.”
At MWC26 we wanted to explain how key technologies, AI, cloud-native computing, Open RAN and OSS, as well as a thriving ecosystem, can be used to accelerate this transition. Here is a recap of how we used the opportunity that MWC26 provides to talk to the industry and raise awareness of Intelligent Growth.
During the show, we made news with several partnerships and collaborations on Open RAN and Rakuten Cloud.
On the Open RAN front, we announced a development MOU with VEON, which owns Beeline Uzbekistan, a nationwide mobile service. Rakuten Symphony and VEON will explore ways to support growth of Uzbekistan’s digital infrastructure and economy in leveraging Open RAN, AI-based network inteliigence.
Our news with Samsung involved our expanding choice for customers. The two companies have demonstrated interoperability between Samsung’s 5G vRAN and vCore products and Rakuten Cloud. This means customers can build their Samsung 5G networks on Rakuten Cloud with a greatly reduced integration effort and a very low deployment risk.
Building on the Rakuten Cloud momentum, we announced Nokia’s cloud‑native IMS and SDM core functions are now live for Rakuten Mobile on Rakuten Cloud. The deployment proves that Rakuten Cloud can host mission‑critical telecom workloads at scale, strengthening its position as a platform for next‑generation mobile networks.
Strengthening our partnership with Google Cloud, the two companies announced a strategic OEM agreement, whereby Google Cloud will include Rakuten Cloud-Native Storage in Google Distributed Cloud Connected Server deployments. This allows customers to purchase a fully integrated compute and storage stack that is pre-validated, supported and delivered by Google Cloud.
In another collaboration, we announced that Rakuten Cloud-Native Storage has been integrated into the Wind River Cloud Platform. Now Wind River Cloud Platform enterprise customers can get a complete cloud-native solution with integrated stateful edge support from two industry leaders with simplified purchasing and integration.
One of the big opportunities for edge cloud native networks is sovereign networks – providing the benefits of cloud computing with a guarantee that the data remain within a country’s boundaries. In a partnership with Lightstorm, we’ve integrated Rakuten Cloud with the Polarin Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform. This allows enterprises, telecom operators and sovereign cloud providers to quickly create sovereign network services.
A big part of our effort at MWC is speaking and presenting. The highlight of the speaking program was the main stage keynote by Rakuten Group CEO and Chairman Mickey Mikitani. His presentation was titled “Forging the Future of Connectivity & Commerce.” Mickey used the podium to tell the story of how Rakuten embraced Intelligent Growth and the larger Rakuten Group ecosystem to create new revenues for its Rakuten Mobile service. By embracing an ecosystem approach, he explained, operators can set themselves up for continued success in an increasingly complex industry environment.
From security and energy efficiency to accelerating adoption of digital twins, Rakuten Symphony executives Nagendra Bykampadi, Subha Shrinivasan and Devesh Gautam contributed to the many insightful conversations taking place last week across the MWC Barcelona stages, highlighting our work powering intelligent growth for operators.
All told, Rakuten subject matter experts participated in 30+ presentations or panels at the Rakuten booth, alongside industry leaders from tier 1 MNOs, partners, industry analysts and media.
MNOs need to change and grow to end a long financial decline that threatens their future. Intelligent Growth, combining open and cloud-native automation with a smart ecosystem strategy, provides the tools for them to get back on a growth path. Bringing this message to MWC26 was just the start of our campaign to help MNOs embrace a new path to financial success. More details on show activities can be found on the Rakuten Symphony MWC26 landing page: https://symphony.rakuten.com/mwc.
