Rakuten Symphony, a Japanese open RAN technology provider and part of Rakuten Mobile, intends to allocate $10 million for investments in India this year. The investment will primarily enhance AI capabilities and support research efforts in 6G technology.
Rakuten Symphony is a global technology company that provides cloud-native solutions for mobile network operators (MNOs) and communication service providers (CSPs). The company offers innovative and disruptive technologies that enable MNOs and CSPs to deploy open, virtualized, and disaggregated radio access networks (RANs).
The company’s solutions are built on cloud-native principles, offering scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency to operators looking to deploy 4G and 5G networks. With a focus on open architectures and virtualization, Rakuten Symphony is at the forefront of transforming the telecommunications industry.
According to Sharad Sriwastawa, co-CEO and CTO of Rakuten Mobile, and president of Rakuten Symphony, the focus will be on expanding their Bengaluru research and development center, the company’s second-largest tech hub outside Japan. Sriwastawa shared these plans at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, highlighting their commitment to advancing technology through investments in the lab and R&D for 6G.
Rakuten Mobile functions as the mobile operator division within the Rakuten Group, while Rakuten Symphony serves as its subsidiary specializing in telecom platform solutions. Sriwastawa highlighted India’s significance as a pivotal global R&D center, noting that the company alone employs approximately 3,000 individuals engaged in a wide array of research, development, and operational roles.
The company’s Indian branch boasts around 4,000 employees who contribute to the group’s various operations, including e-commerce and payment services. Additionally, he mentioned the company’s plans to recruit key function leaders in India and relocate personnel to the country to fortify its local operations.
The company’s global innovation lab, established during the fiscal year 2022-23, complements its existing lab dedicated to the radio access network (RAN). Spread across Bengaluru, Indore, and Pune, these R&D hubs specialize in radio access networks, core networks, and performance testing.
Open RAN technology enables telecom operators to procure hardware and software from various suppliers, reducing reliance on single vendors. Sriwastawa also mentioned that Rakuten has initiated talks with India’s three major telecom operators—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea—to implement small cells using open RAN technology.
“We are currently in preliminary discussions with all three telecom operators in India. They plan to complete the 5G deployment in the next few months before considering Open RAN. Initially, they are focusing on deploying small cells, but trials for macro cells are expected to begin by the end of this year,” he explained.
The company had previously deployed approximately 5,000 femtocells in Bharti Airtel’s 4G network before 2021 but has not made significant progress in the Indian market since then. Sriwastawa also mentioned that the Rakuten group was one of the early adopters of AI and has developed AI algorithms for its e-commerce business in Japan.
After partnering with OpenAI last year, Rakuten will collaborate with the Sam Altman-backed tech company to create AI solutions for mobile networks, including those for customer service, network optimization, and predictive maintenance of telecom networks.
