Rakuten Symphony and VEON’s Beeline Uzbekistan  Partner for Open RAN, AI Collaboration

Tokyo, Tashkent and Barcelona , March 4, 2026 – Rakuten Group, Inc. and VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), a global digital operator, announced today that Beeline Uzbekistan, VEON’s digital operator in Uzbekistan, and Rakuten Symphony, a subsidiary of Rakuten Group, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore strategic collaborations that support the development of Uzbekistan’s fast-growing digital economy, including on Open RAN development, AI-powered network intelligence and next-generation digital platforms. 

The MoU, signed at the MWC Barcelona 2026, establishes a framework to explore collaboration focused on areas including network deployment, optimization and development, and digital services, leveraging Rakuten’s software stack and platform expertise – proven at scale with over 100 million members in Japan and over 10 million subscribers to Rakuten Mobile.

Under this framework, the companies will assess opportunities to deepen collaboration across priority technology areas, including Open RAN architecture, the ways that AI can deliver more sophisticated network operations, next-generation digital platforms, cloud solutions and global IoT and mobile workforce connectivity. In addition, the two companies will advance collaboration in eSIM and international roaming, leveraging Rakuten Mobile’s AI-powered, cloud-native platform and its track record in delivering integrated eSIM services at scale. 

The announcement builds on the Rakuten-VEON partnership initially launched in 2023^*1. Kyivstar Group and Beeline Kazakhstan, two other VEON Group Companies, are already partnering with Rakuten in Ukraine and Kazakhstan to explore cooperation on Open RAN and other digital collaboration opportunities.

The partnership combines Beeline Uzbekistan’s strong market position, with 7.7 million mobile subscribers as of September 2025, with Rakuten Symphony’s experience in cloud-native networks and open, automated architectures. It is part of a wider strategic initiative led by Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony’s parent company, supported by the Japanese government. This initiative is accelerating global Open RAN adoption to diversify the telecom supply chain and represents a forward-looking investment in telecom to make networks more competitive and secure. To date, initiatives have been rolled out in India, Vietnam, Kuwait, Kenya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with VEON by expanding our partnership to Beeline Uzbekistan, which champions Uzbekistan’s digital growth with investments into network and digital services, supporting the national digital economy,” said Sharad Sriwastawa, President, Rakuten Symphony. “This partnership demonstrates both organizations’ commitment to advancing the national digital infrastructures with open, AI-ready software and connectivity solutions that will futureproof national telecom networks. We look forward to supporting Beeline Uzbekistan’s next steps in its digital journey.”

"Uzbekistan is on an ambitious path to becoming a digital economy leader in Central Asia, and we at Beeline Uzbekistan are committed to building the infrastructure and platforms that make this possible,” said Andrey Pyatakhin, CEO of Beeline Uzbekistan. “In collaboration with Rakuten Symphony, we will explore how cloud-native network architectures and AI-driven automation can accelerate our services and deliver better digital experiences for our customers. With this, we are building on the investments we have made in our Network Operations Center, our digital services ecosystem, and our new software company BuildX." 

“We are excited to build the digital infrastructure and services that power Uzbekistan's economic growth and look forwarding to exploring collaborations with Rakuten across various areas,” said Kaan Terzioglu, VEON Group CEO, who joined the signing ceremony in Barcelona. “Extending our collaboration with Rakuten to Uzbekistan, following our Ukraine and Kazakhstan operations earlier, demonstrates the scalability of VEON’s approach in bringing cutting-edge technology partnerships to high-growth emerging markets that we proudly serve.”

Rakuten Symphony, through its collaboration with Rakuten Mobile who applies achievements obtained from key research and development projects subsidized by the NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) program^*2, remains committed to leading Open RAN innovation, and the development of automated network quality assurance systems and edge cloud capabilities for next-generation communication networks of the future.

Read more about Rakuten Symphony and Rakuten Mobile’s participation in government sponsored research and development initiatives to explore modernization of mobile networks and diversification of supply chain vendor ecosystems.