The Telecom Infra Project (TIP) is to release a “blueprint”, it says, for how to deploy “cost-effective and scalable” cloud-native private 5G networks, based on an initial trial of a 5G-connected computer vision application led by Telefonica. Rakuten Symphony, Tech Mahindra, and NTT Data...
CEO Tareq Amin said a per-appliance software subscription fee “killed my business model”
Rakuten Mobile is in the process of removing Red Hat software from its network deployment in Japan, and working with Rocky Linux for processing software workloads in distributed units across its Open...
Unlocking the path to autonomous networks
Rakuten Symphony offers a new yet proven approach to automated, end-to-end service assurance. It gives operators a way to reduce today’s operational costs, and also a future-proof solution able to support the journey from today’s 2G/3G/4G mobile and fixed...
With Open RAN, there’s the risk of trading vendor lock-in for system integrator lock-in
With greenfield success stories and increasing interest from brownfield players, it appears Open RAN is happening, but the question remaining is can it happen fast enough to meaningfully change the supplier...
Tareq Amin discussed the outlook for Rakuten Symphony software-first market approach
Over the past three-plus years, I’ve interviewed Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin a number of times in one-on-one and group settings. Based on these interactions, I’m certain of one overarching thing: Amin believes in...
Rakuten Symphony noted that the Symware device is based on the Intel Xeon D processor
Rakuten Symphony announced the general availability for its Symware Open RAN distributed edge product, along with its plans to deploy 30,000 units across Rakuten Mobile’s network in Japan.
The Japanese company...
Virgin Media O2's O-RAN deployment is initially taking place in the Northamptonshire region
U.K. telco Virgin Media O2, NEC and Rakuten Symphony have announced that their joint multi-vendor Open RAN deployment is entering the field phase, starting with the activation of the first live sites...
In a bit of circularity, the Open RAN promise of full optionality between hardware and software components is also an overarching difficulty in deploying Open RAN at scale. How do you unify management of a disaggregated system? How do you procedurally run through the...
The Rakuten Symphony Global Innovation Lab will carry out global R&D in the field of industrialized automation of O-RAN-based, cloud native mobile networks
Japanese O-RAN platform company Rakuten Symphony has announced plans to establish a new lab in Bengaluru, India.
The Rakuten Symphony Global Innovation Lab...
Rakuten Mobile’s FWA will run on both Sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum
Japanese mobile operator Rakuten Mobile expects to launch fixed wireless access (FWA) services in Japan in December, the telco’s CEO Tareq Amin said during a call with journalists.
“I’m just waiting for our CPE...
Rakuten Mobile's CTO Tareq Amin said that the telco now aims to accelerate 5G deployments across Japan
Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile said it 4G network reached 97% of the country’s population as of the end of the first quarter of the year.
In its earnings statement,...
Verizon sees its network future in a private, telco-grade cloud
5G has long been described as the first generation of cellular born in the cloud. While that's a reductive statement, operators are moving network functions and operational processes into the cloud, there's a heavily-debated question:...
Carriers will be able to carry out verification of vRAN at its R&D center in Yokosuka
Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo recently announced that it has begun allowing overseas mobile operators to access its Shared Open Lab, located in its R&D facility in Yokosuka, Japan, to...
1&1 said it will initially provide FWA services through its 5G network
German operator 1&1 announced plans to speed up the deployment of the fourth mobile network in Germany, including the deployment of 1,000 5G base stations this year.
In an interview with German newspaper Die...
Open RAN trial also includes Accenture and Tech Mahindra
Rakuten Symphony kept the playing the hits today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, announcing a three-country Open RAN trial with operator MTN. Throughout the week, Rakuten Symphony has discussed its Symworld and Symware portfolios, announced...
Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai joins Rakuten Symphony Board of Directors
Rakuten Symphony, the evolution of the Rakuten Communications Platform, has an anchor client in new German market entrant 1&1, has spelled out its goal to address a $100 billion market, and hit Mobile World...
Telefonica Germany had previously said it aimed to deploy pure 5G O-RAN mini-radio cells in Munich later in the year
German telco O2/Telefónica Germany and Japanese tech company NEC announced the launch of what they claim to be the first open- and virtual-RAN-architecture-based small cells...
The massive MIMO radios will be used in Rakuten Mobile network in Japan and sold globally by Rakuten Symphony
Qualcomm and Rakuten Symphony are confident that they'll crack the code for Open RAN compatible 64T/64R massive MIMO radios that can rival integrated solutions from a...
Rakuten Symphony announced the expansion of its operations across the U.K., France and Germany.
The Japanese company noted that this expansion will allow the firm to support the business operations and growth in the European market and collaboration with operators and vendors in the region...
Dish Network is adding Rakuten Symphony to its Operational Support Systems (OSS) vendor roster, turning to the company and its observability framework (OBF) to collect the telemetry data from all of Dish's network functions, which Dish says will enable the use of artificial intelligence...
Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin sees the company as a platform provider and partner rather than as a vendor
When he came from Reliance Jio to serve as upstart Rakuten Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer, Tareq Amin’s priority was to build and commercialize a network that...
Intel, Juniper Networks, and Rakuten Symphony announced a collaborative effort to develop Symware, a carrier-grade Open RAN (O-RAN) solution for mobile network operators to modernize radio cell sites.
Rakuten Symphony is a new business organization promoted by Japanese carrier Rakuten Mobile, with the main aim...
