Rakuten Symphony boss keen to share secret sauce

LIVE FROM MWC21 LOS ANGELES: Rakuten Mobile CTO Tareq Amin (pictured) was adamant the company should unlock its software-based infrastructure model outside of Japan and enable disruption globally, as parent Rakuten Group’s recently-launched Symphony unit introduced a distributed RAN and transport set-up.

Appearing on stage, Amin talked through Rakuten Mobile’s four-year journey, in which it shook up the Japanese market by entering as the country’s fourth major player, offering 5G services on a software cloud-based open RAN network architecture.

To branch out internationally, the group launched Rakuten Symphony in early August to oversee a global push of providing cloud-native open RAN infrastructure and services, allowing other operators and the wider industry to replicate what it has done in Japan.

Amin, who also serves as Rakuten Symphony CEO, said it would have been a “real shame” to keep what it had done in Japan “locked as a secret sauce”.

“We have a great opportunity to disrupt this industry, we have a great opportunity to really connect everything and bring better value to overall society and Rakuten Symphony is the platform idea for all the software technology stack that we have built into Japan. We wanted to take four years of lessons and package them into solutions that deliver immediate benefits to our customers and the telecoms industry.”

Symphony push
Amin announced a partnership with Intel and Juniper Networks to introduce Symware, a carrier-grade open RAN product designed for mobile operators to modernise cell sites using cloud-native architecture.

In a press statement, Rakuten Symphony explained the system would provide operators with the flexibility to densify networks, accommodate various topologies and offer new features while reducing the required hardware per site.

Rakuten Symphony believes the solution will help slash total cost of ownership, fast track RAN innovation and provide greater agility, smart security and new levels of automation.

An acquisition of file transfer specialist Estmob revealed earlier this week was billed as helping to accelerate product development [1] for Rakuten Symphony.

[1] https://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/top-three/rakuten-tunes-up-symphony-with-estmob-buy

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