Nairobi & Tokyo, January 21, 2025 - Telkom Kenya, Rakuten Symphony and Airspan have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the organizations collaborate to undertake knowledge transfer and testing of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology on the African continent. The collaboration will comprise knowledge transfer, development and testing with 4G and 5G technologies within Kenya.
Telkom Kenya is keen to benefit from knowledge transfer, development and testing of open and flexible network architecture with a view to enhance the use of automation and AI-powered technologies to be at the forefront of the development of homegrown technologies through collaborations with international market leaders.
Rakuten Symphony and Airspan will be responsible for overseeing partners within the testing. Rakuten Symphony will supply the centralized unit and distributed unit infrastructure, along with its industry-leading OSS platform, while Airspan will supply 4G and 5G radio units and the mobile core. Telkom Kenya will provide the required local resources and facilities.
Mugo Kibati, Chief Executive Officer, Telkom Kenya, said, “Telkom Kenya is excited to collaborate in this consortium of cutting-edge technology leaders in this field of open architecture telecommunications network, and reap the benefits of modern and ultimately inevitable technological advances such as AI. We are proud to be investing in the development of our people through the collaborative testing capabilities that we will be building within this consortium to explore the possible benefits of Open RAN in our mobile network."
Sharad Sriwastawa, President, Rakuten Symphony, said, “Our diverse portfolio of solutions delivers proven positive outcomes for mobile network operators across the world. We look forward to bringing Rakuten Symphony’s proven global expertise in mobile network transformation to support Telkom Kenya’s commitment to innovation."
Glenn Laxdal, President and CEO, Airspan, said, “Telkom Kenya’s collaboration with this consortium to explore the latest telecommunication advancements reflects bold innovation to place Kenya at the heart of Africa’s technological leadership within the region. Airspan is proud to support this vision with advanced 4G/5G solutions, alongside Rakuten Symphony, whose expertise as the one of world’s largest commercial Open RAN vendors ensures impactful results.”
Rakuten Mobile, in collaboration with Rakuten Symphony, will apply the achievements obtained from the “Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems (JPNP20017)”, subsidized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).*1
About Telkom Kenya
Telkom is a technology company that provides integrated solutions to individuals, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Government and large corporates in Kenya, drawing from a diverse solutions suite that includes voice, data/connectivity, digital financial services, as well as network services. Powered by its vast fibre optic infrastructure, it is also a major provider of wholesale carrier-to-carrier traffic, within the country and the region.
These services are primarily offered through our Service Delivery Units: Digital (that offers: Data Centre Services, Cloud, Managed Services, Connectivity, Broadband, Carrier-to-Carrier traffic, and Backbone Infrastructure); Consumer (that offers: Data, Voice, VAS, and Content) and Digital Financial Services (through our platform T-kash).
Telkom is also building on strong, consumer-centric ethos and is committed to providing innovative, accessible and refreshingly simple communications solutions that suit customers’ everyday communication needs.
Established as a telecommunications operator in April 1999, Telkom is 60 per cent owned by Helios Investment Partners, with the remaining stake held by Kenyans through the Government of Kenya. Telkom has 4,152 km of its own terrestrial fibre cabling, serving as a key conduit for broadband connectivity, inland. Telkom Kenya also owns a 22.5% stake in TEAMS, a 5,000km undersea fibre optic cable through Fujairah, UAE, and a 10% stake in LION2, another 2,700km undersea fibre optic cable through Mauritius. It also owns a stake in the East African Submarine System Cable (EASSy) and manages the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI), on behalf of the Ministry of ICT, an inland fibre optic cable network running through Kenyan counties. Telkom is also the landing partner for the LION2, EASSy, DARE 1 and lately, the PEACE Cables.
Please visit https://www.telkom.co.ke to get to know more about Telkom.
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 operations in Japan, the United States, Singapore, India, Europe and the Middle East Africa region.
For more information, visit: https://symphony.rakuten.com.
About Airspan
Airspan Networks Holdings LLC is a U.S.-based provider of groundbreaking, disruptive software and hardware for 5G networks, and a pioneer in end-to-end Open RAN solutions that provide interoperability with other vendors. As a result of innovative technology and significant R&D investments to build and expand 5G solutions, Airspan believes it is well-positioned with 5G indoor and outdoor, Open RAN, private networks for enterprise customers and industrial use applications, fixed wireless access (FWA), Air-To-Ground and CBRS solutions to help mobile network operators of all sizes deploy their networks of the future, today. With over one million cells shipped to 1,000 customers in more than 100 countries, Airspan has global scale.
For more information, visit https://www.airspan.com.
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