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 will carry out global research and development in the field of industrialized automation of Open RAN-based, cloud native mobile networks. Rakuten Symphony noted that the new facility is expected to open in early 2023 and will be housed inside new engineering development facilities opening simultaneously to bring together Rakuten Symphony’s Bengaluru employee base.
Tareq Amin, CEO of Rakuten Symphony, said: “Our operations around the world are powered by incredible Indian talent and creative innovation, so I am very proud to announce this additional investment with the establishment of our Global Innovation Lab and new engineering development facilities in Bengaluru. I am very confident that as we continue to grow here in India, our ability to provide telco solutions to the world will also grow exponentially.”
The Global Innovation Lab will recreates the entire network architecture in a simulated environment, from RAN to Core to transport, enabling function and performance testing, the company said. The lab will also act as a showcase for the company’s Symworld platform, allowing Rakuten Symphony to demonstrate the capabilities and performance of the platform to customers. The facility will complement Rakuten Symphony’s existing RAN lab in Bengaluru and the Rakuten Cloud Innovation Lab in Tokyo.
The Japanese firm also said that there are plans to set up facilities for future 6G infrastructure R&D in the new lab.
“Rakuten Symphony India represents a key driver of innovation in the telecom space, and we are very excited to further expand our presence. We look forward to fostering local talent and working with local Indian and global partners to promote the adoption of Open RAN technologies and empower global telecom operators to build and operate secure mobile networks,” said Narendra Narayana, managing director of Rakuten Symphony India.
Including locations in Bengaluru and Indore, Rakuten Symphony says that its employee base in India has grown to over 3,300 in less than one year through acquisitions and organic growth, and there are plans to further expand headcount over the coming years through recruitment in the fields of Open RAN, cloud, automation, data and telecom standards.
In February, Rakuten Symphony had 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 this region.
