Rakuten said that telcos and industry suppliers in Europe and the Middle East will be invited to test advancements in O-RAN technologies in the new facility
Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony and Rakuten Symphony UK officially opened the Rakuten Open RAN (O-RAN) customer experience center in the United Kingdom.
The new facility is the result of international cooperation, with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) working with the U.K.’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and focusing on increasing telecommunications supplier diversity.
The new O-RAN center will serve as a European hub for interoperability testing around the viability of O-RAN in new and existing networks. It will be used to host workshops and events demonstrating how the latest O-RAN hardware and software and next-generation mobile networks will be used to improve operational efficiency and new services. Rakuten said that telecom operators and industry suppliers in Europe and the Middle East will be invited to test advancements in O-RAN technologies in the new facility.
Rakuten Mobile launched what it claims to be the world’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network in Japan, based on O-RAN standards. The operator says that its O-RAN network costs 40% less to build and up to 30% less to operate than traditional mobile networks.
“As Japan and the United Kingdom strengthen their technological collaboration, MIC of Japan believes the opening of Rakuten’s O-RAN customer experience center is truly meaningful for the evolution of secure and smart 5G in the U.K. and Europe,” said Yuki Naruse, director for international policy coordination at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan.
Tareq Amin, CEO of Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, said: “As demand for diversity in telecommunications supply chains intensifies, our UK customer experience center will provide an essential touchpoint for education about O-RAN and the potential for Rakuten Symphony’s solutions to improve the operational efficiency and sustainability of mobile network operators,. The U.K. and Japan are countries with vast digital potential and this investment represents an example of leadership in innovation in the European region.”
The opening of the center in the U.K. follows the launch of the Rakuten Mobile Open Innovation Lab in Tokyo in August 2022.
The U.K. government has previously announced a joint ambition with local mobile network operators to increase the share of open and interoperable equipment in U.K. networks to 35% by 2030.
Earlier this week, U.K. digital accelerator Digital Catapult, working with telecommunications regulator Ofcom, has announced the opening of its new Open RAN (O-RAN) testing facilities as part of the SONIC Labs program.
SONIC Labs is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The new facilities provide multiple O-RAN vendors with the opportunity to trial, test and accelerate the development of their products in a commercially neutral environment. The SONIC Labs program aims to support the U.K. government’s 5G Telecoms Diversification Supply Chain Strategy as well as fostering innovation in the O-RAN space.
