The Radio Access Network (RAN) market stands at a critical inflection point, driven by technological evolution, geopolitical pressures, and operational demands. This article explores the current state of the industry, the solutions emerging to meet its challenges, and the pivotal role Rakuten is playing in accelerating transformation. Drawing on recent industry developments and insights as of February 25, 2025, the discussion is structured in three parts: the industry’s pressing needs, the answers to address them, and Rakuten’s specific contributions.
The RAN ecosystem is undergoing a profound shift, characterized by several key challenges:
Rising Heterogeneity: Radio networks are becoming increasingly diverse with the proliferation of spectrum bands, the advent of Wi-Fi 7 nearing cellular indoor quality, and LEO satellites enhancing rural coverage. This heterogeneity dismantles the traditional reliance on a single-vendor, macro-centric model, pushing operators to deploy tailored solutions across varied scenarios, locations, and bands to optimize both coverage and cost.
Demand for Supplier Diversity: Geopolitical tensions and network complexity are amplifying the need for a broader supplier base. No single vendor can adequately address all coverage needs across global geographies and spectrum bands, and over-reliance on a handful of players introduces supply chain vulnerabilities. Open standards are essential to unlock diverse supply chains, bolster local resilience, and reduce dependency.
Operational Efficiency Imperative: As networks densify and grow more complex, operational efficiency becomes non-negotiable. High levels of automation are critical to streamline management, while open interfaces enable a unified control framework across vendors, cutting costs and enhancing performance. The Fast Mode’s January 2025 report, Making Multi-Vendor Open RAN Work: The Role of AI-Powered Automation, emphasizes AI-driven automation as a linchpin for multi-vendor networks.
Resistance to Multi-Vendor Integration: Disaggregating hardware from software in the radio supply chain introduces significant complexity, a burden operators are reluctant to shoulder. Previously masked by single-vendor homogeneity, this challenge now hinders progress, requiring automated, repeatable, software-driven integration solutions—potentially AI-enabled—as noted in Light Reading’s May 2024 analysis, Open RAN and its multivendor misfortunes.
Industry Fragility: The telecom sector’s current state is precarious, with incumbent lock-in and migration complexities stalling supplier diversity. The past five years have weakened players like Nokia rather than fostering competition, raising concerns about supply chain stability. Governments recognize this fragility as untenable, yet the industry’s slow pace of change—rooted in valid operational caution—clouds the timeline for transformation.
The industry is responding with innovative approaches, primarily centered on Open RAN and complementary technologies:
Open RAN: By leveraging standardized interfaces and disaggregated components, Open RAN enables seamless interoperability among vendors. This addresses heterogeneity by supporting diverse radio deployments and promotes supplier diversity by reducing reliance on single sources. The NIST’s May 2023 overview, Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), highlights how Open RAN’s intelligent controllers manage complexity effectively.
Cloud-Native Networks: Fully automated, cloud-native architectures offer scalability and cost efficiency, centralizing management to dynamically allocate resources. Fact. MR’s January 2025 Cloud RAN market report.
AI and Automation: Integration of AI and machine learning, such as through the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), enables real-time optimization, tackling multi-vendor complexity while enhancing efficiency. This is a cornerstone for future networks.
Standardized Interfaces: Open interfaces streamline integration, alleviating operators’ reluctance to manage multi-vendor ecosystems. Light Reading’s November 2024 survey, Operators say vendor ‘optionality’ is the watchword for open RAN in 2024, indicates a desire for multi-vendor RAN but notes lingering operator apprehension, indicating that full interoperability remains a work in progress.
These solutions collectively aim to create a more flexible, resilient, and efficient RAN ecosystem, though challenges like integration complexity persist.
Rakuten stands out as a catalyst in this transformation, leveraging its pioneering work in Open RAN:
Proving the Model: Rakuten Mobile in Japan, launched in 2020, became the world’s first fully virtualized, cloud-native nationwide mobile network. It delivers quality on par with or exceeding traditional setups at significantly lower costs and faster deployment timelines. Now EBITDA-positive, as industry analyses confirm, Rakuten demonstrates the viability of this approach, with its Rakuten Symphony blog.
Boosting Supplier Diversity: Rakuten licenses its commercial-grade radio software to other companies, enabling them to embed it into their products. As the only nationwide-deployed software of its kind offered this way, it eliminates redundant development efforts, accelerating the availability of high-quality alternatives globally, Open Ran for Real details these real-world successes. We provided more updates and announcements leading up to MWC BCN 2025 on this expanding ecosystem.
Simplifying Integration: Collaborating with multiple system integrators and using proven automated interoperability software scaffolding, Rakuten reduces the complexity of multi-vendor deployments, easing operator adoption.
The RAN market is poised for a future defined by openness, automation, and diversity, addressing the urgent needs of heterogeneity, supplier resilience, and operational efficiency. While telecom’s deliberate pace tempers the speed of change, solutions like Open RAN and AI-driven automation are paving the way. Rakuten’s proven model, software licensing, and collaborative efforts are hastening this shift, positioning it as a leader in redefining the industry. The trajectory is set—only the timeline remains uncertain.
