Toward a new generation of mobile networks — media around the world cover Rakuten Symphony launch
A revolutionary new symphony for mobile networks premiered this year. The composition began with the construction of Japan’s fourth mobile phone network by Rakuten Mobile, bringing down the price of a local mobile phone subscription by 80 percent. In 2021, that inspiration crescendoed to the global stage with the launch of Rakuten Symphony.
Media around the world respond to Rakuten Symphony
Unveiled in August, Rakuten Symphony has already notched up important international milestones, attracting the attention of major business and industry media:
- Financial Times: Teaming up with Germany’s 1&1 to build Europe’s first Open RAN network
- Wall Street Journal: Dish and Rakuten head to the cloud
- CNBC: Rakuten Symphony sees huge opportunities to take network into the cloud
- Light Reading: Dish Network officially teams up with Rakuten
- Mobile Europe: Rakuten partners 1&1 to build “Europe’s first fully virtualised mobile network”
- Fierce Wireless: Rakuten creates Symphony, expands RCP ambitions
- Appledore Research: Disruption-as-a-Service: Rakuten Symphony Emerges
Transforming the world
In The Economist World Ahead edition, Rakuten Symphony CEO and Rakuten Mobile CTO Tareq Amin weighed in on how mobile telecommunications will transform.
“Open RAN provides a way to depoliticize the roll-out of 5G.”
Tareq Amin, CEO, Rakuten Symphony
“Historically, a few large vendors have dominated the business of supplying mobile-network equipment, providing costly proprietary systems in which they control both the hardware and the software. Open RAN networks are completely different: They are software-driven, based on open standards, and run in the cloud on commercial, off-the-shelf servers.”
“The advantages of Open RAN networks are clear. They cost less to run because many of the proprietary infrastructure components are replaced by software, at a fraction of the price. Network operators no longer need large teams of engineers to deploy and maintain their base stations. In our network, new sites are brought on air automatically and updates are carried out remotely via software.”
“Open RAN networks are completely different: they are software-driven, based on open standards, and run in the cloud on commercial, off-the-shelf servers.”
“Open RAN should be music to the ears of security hawks and those worried about the security implications of trusting a single supplier. Open RAN provides a way to depoliticize the roll-out of 5G. It gives operators complete transparency within their networks, tight control throughout the supply chain and the freedom to quickly move from one vendor to the next should ever a security issue arise.”
“More affordable connectivity will cause an industrial shake-up in the coming years. Instead of proprietary systems built by a handful of incumbents, Open RAN offers new suppliers, both large and small, the opportunity to get into the mobile infrastructure market. Our network relies on equipment from a range of suppliers, including radio-access technology from Nokia, routers and switches from Cisco, and other hardware from NEC. The software was provided by Altiostar (recently acquired by Rakuten) and Robin.io.”
