An industry leader in telecommunications innovation, Sharad Sriwastawa is the Representative Director and President of Rakuten Symphony, a Rakuten Group company spearheading the global adoption of cloud-native Open Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure and services.
After joining Rakuten Mobile in September 2018, Sriwastawa took the role of Chief Technology officer in March 2022, and he will take on the role of Representative Director, Co-CEO and CTO as of August 7, 2023. He was also appointed as Group Managing Executive Officer of Rakuten Group in April 2022. His stewardship is central to the development and operations of Rakuten Mobile’s fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network based on Open RAN architecture.
Prior to the CTO role, Sriwastawa served as the Head of Connectivity Platforms, where he was the driving force behind constructing and industrializing cloud-native RAN, highlighting his unwavering commitment to openness and revolutionizing the telecommunications sector.
With a rich career spanning nearly three decades, Sriwastawa has been a transformative figure across continents. Before his tenure at Rakuten, he held positions such as Vice President of Airspan Networks Holdings, National Head of 3G at Reliance Communications, and Northeast Regional Manager for T-Mobile USA.
His career genesis at Siemens Public Communications Network in 1995 involved a contribution to building India’s first mobile network, showcasing his proclivity for innovation from the onset.