GTI Awards 2021: Rakuten Mobile wins for Market Development

Rakuten Mobile’s revolutionary network was in the spotlight again with a win at the telecommunications industry’s GTI Awards 2021 for its work on building the world’s first end-to-end fully virtualized 4G and 5G commercial mobile network.

Rakuten Mobile received the Market Development Award, which judges entries on aspects including the contribution to the establishment of 4G/5G ecosystems and the promotion of 4G/5G adoption. The company won the award for its network as a “real-world implementation of Open RAN for a multi-vendor approach incorporating virtualization technologies.” Rakuten Mobile was one of only two telecommunications operators this year to receive a GTI Award, with many of the other awards going to established global mobile technology firms.

(This) is a testament to our team’s hard work and innovation over the past three years. With our network in Japan, we have shown that Open RAN is a real, viable alternative to traditional architecture.

Tareq Amin, Rakuten Mobile CTO

GTI is an influential international cooperation platform in the telecommunications industry. Founded in 2011, it counts 139 operators as well as 247 key vendors from around the world in its membership. In 2016, GTI 2.0 was officially launched aiming to further promote 4G evolution, promote 5G development and cross-industry innovation.

The GTI Awards recognize outstanding contributions in 4G and 5G, and innovative businesses and services. The awards also aim to encourage innovative products, solutions and applications that address the challenges faced by its operator members, as well as contributions to the industry and the GTI.

“I am truly honored for Rakuten Mobile to receive the award. It is a testament to our team’s hard work and innovation over the past three years,” commented Rakuten Mobile CTO Tareq Amin. “With our network in Japan, we have shown that Open RAN is a real, viable alternative to traditional architecture. We believe that open architectures are the future for mobile networks, and look forward to sharing the lessons we have learned with operators and enterprises around the world through the Rakuten Communications Platform.”