KUALA LUMPUR AND TOKYO, MARCH 2, 2023 – Axiata Enterprise, a business solutions company of leading Asian mobile telecommunications conglomerate, Axiata Group Berhad (“Axiata” or “the Group”) spanning 11 nations in ASEAN and South Asia, and Rakuten Symphony today announced an agreement that will see Rakuten Symphony supply and deliver private network telecommunications services across Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia.
Through the agreement, Rakuten Symphony and Axiata will bring innovative Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) solutions currently deployed by Rakuten Mobile in Japan to business customers across South Asia looking to deploy Open RAN-compliant enterprise private wireless networks.
Rakuten Symphony assists telcos worldwide with the deployment of fully cloud-native network services based on open standards and advanced automation and orchestration, enabling companies to easily build secure and open mobile networks at high speed and low cost.
Dr Gopi Kurup, CEO, Axiata Enterprise mentioned, “Today’s agreement with Rakuten Symphony presents business owners and enterprises in ASEAN and South Asia a way to level up their game through Open Radio Access Network Private 4G and 5G Network technology. By being among the first movers in the Enterprise 5G and Smart Services domain, our Operating Companies (“OpCos”) are primed as preferred Service Providers throughout our footprint.”
Tareq Amin, CEO, Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, said: “We’re excited to announce our agreement with Axiata Enterprise to deploy Rakuten Symphony’s innovative Open RAN products, packaged as network-in-a-box solutions, to their business customers across Asia looking to provide private enterprise telco solutions.”
Rakuten Mobile has set multiple industry landmarks with its full-scale launch of commercial mobile services on the world’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network*1 in 2020. Rakuten Symphony, launched in 2021, is now bringing 4G and 5G infrastructure and platform solutions under a single global banner to operators globally.
This innovative approach to building mobile networks brings both cost and operational efficiencies, as well as speed in deploying new services and generating additional revenue streams for the operator.
The signing of this agreement is in alignment with Axiata’s vision of building best-in-class partnerships to develop and provide cutting-edge solutions for its customers across South and South-East Asia.
The companies will be making further public announcements about progress of their collaborative efforts.
Note:
*1 For a large scale commercial mobile network (as of October 1, 2019). Research: Stella Associates
About Axiata
In pursuit of its vision to be The Next Generation Digital Champion, Axiata is a diversified telecommunications and digital conglomerate operating Digital Telcos, Digital Businesses and Infrastructure businesses across a footprint spanning ASEAN and South Asia.
The Group has controlling stakes in market-leading mobile and fixed operators in the region including 'XL’ and ‘Link Net' in Indonesia, 'Dialog' in Sri Lanka, 'Robi' in Bangladesh, 'Smart' in Cambodia and 'Ncell' in Nepal while 'CelcomDigi' in Malaysia is a Key Associate Company. Axiata’s regional digital business verticals comprise ‘Boost’ a fintech company, and ‘ADA’, a digital analytics and AI company. 'EDOTCO' is among the top 10 independent TowerCos globally, operating in nine countries to deliver telecommunications infrastructure services.
As a committed and long-term investor, the Group actively supports and drives young talent development; community outreach; as well as climate change initiatives. Axiata's broader goal of Advancing Asia aims to piece together the best in the region in terms of innovation, connectivity and talent to drive digital inclusion and sustainable progress across our markets. Find out more at www.axiata.com
About Rakuten Symphony
Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security. Rakuten Symphony has headquarters in Japan and local presence in the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region.
For more information, visit: https://symphony.rakuten.com/
Media Contacts
Axiata Group Berhad
Chang Yan Yi
+60-12-421-8172
Rakuten Symphony
CorporateCommunications Department
mobile-global-pr@mail.rakuten.com
