The two have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to that effect.
Rakuten Mobile, Inc. and NEC Corporation’s MoU builds on their existing partnership – NEC provides 5G radio units (5G RU) for the operator’s virtualized, cloud-native mobile network. They are also jointly developing Rakuten Mobile’s containerized Standalone 5G core network (5GC).
MoU terms
Under the terms of the MoU, Rakuten Mobile and NEC will provide 5G and 4G Radios and engineering services for Open RAN systems in global markets. Their offers are aligned with O-RAN specifications and the idea is to accelerate the global expansion of the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP).
RCP is Rakuten Mobile’s virtualized and containerized cloud-native mobile network platform intended to enable telecom companies and enterprises around the world to deploy virtualized networks at high speed and low cost.
Hastening adoption
Tareq Amin, Representative Director, Executive Vice President and CTO of Rakuten Mobile (pictured), said, “Rakuten Mobile has successfully designed, launched and now operates a fully virtualized mobile network. This unique network architecture built on Open RAN standards continues to attract significant interest from operators, enterprises and governments around the world.
“With NEC’s excellent level of technical expertise in radio and track record of providing our high quality 5G sub-6 RU, this collaboration will accelerate the global expansion of Rakuten Communications Platform and promote adoption of Open RAN in global markets.”
NEC Executive Vice President Atsuo Kawamura. “NEC is already providing Rakuten Mobile with BSS/OSS, 5G RU and 5G core…We hope to continue contributing to the expansion of the Rakuten Communications Platform as it rolls out naround the globe.”