Radisys CEO Arun Bhikshesvaran sat down with Rakuten Mobile’s Chief AI and Data Officer Sachin Verma for a “Coffee, Chai & Chat” podcast at MWC Barcelona. They discussed how AI-enhanced digital services, and the ways in which Rakuten Mobile is leveraging Radisys’ Engage Digital Platform (EDP) to enable new network monetization models.
To kick off the conversation, Bhikshesvaran asked, “By embedding a programmable digital platform directly into the core network, how are you accelerating service creation and revenue?”
“The [EDP] platform is foundational to how we derive intelligence from the data for more meaningful business outcomes,” said Verma, who noted a shift from traditional, siloed network services to more flexible, “build once, launch many” models. By leveraging Radisys’ programmable platform, Rakuten Mobile customizes “as-a-service” solutions for enhanced customer experiences and new revenue streams. Essentially, the mobile network has become a programmable software environment in which new features can be “coded” and deployed as easily as web apps.
The Japanese market
“Rakuten Group is uniquely positioned in the Japanese market. It has the reach into the consumer wallet, right through commerce. The competitors are more ‘traditional telco’ whereas Rakuten is different on the go-to-market side. Can you dig into the bouquet of services you offer?” asked Bhikshesvaran, noting the demographic profile of Japan is one of an aging society but with important youth segments as well.
“Some companies start in telco and then venture into the OTT, but we did the reverse, starting in the OTT and venturing into telco,” said Verma, emphasizing Rakuten’s OTT background, and the fact it built its mobile network using cloud-native and programmable technologies from day one, so the networks can be managed with agility and automation.
“Rakuten Mobile is uniquely placed in the Japanese market because of the focus on consent, privacy, GDPR requirements. With the AI and data insight we generate, we can make a difference for not only telco but also the consumers in this market, offering more meaningful propositions and growing the business together.” As a case in point, Rakuten integrated Radisys’ Engage Clarity solution as part of its Engage Digital Platform (EDP). With the solution, users complete a 5-minute online test to measure their hearing loss across various frequencies, and then the platform creates a digital “hearing profile” linked to the user’s phone number. When a call is made or received, the audio is automatically adjusted and enhanced in real-time to match the user’s specific hearing needs—without requiring a separate app or specialized hearing aid hardware. Clinical trials show that 90% of users find speech clearer, and 74% find calls less tiring when using this system, which reduces “listening fatigue” for older individuals.
“When people have a hearing problem, they age faster, they get dementia, and they can get depressed,” said Bhikshesvaran. “We want to add value and bring older people back into society with digital technologies and the assistance technology can provide to protect them from fraud or security issues as they use the services.”
To address the elderly population, Rakuten has opened up 658 shops in rural areas where the population is getting older. Through its Saikyo Senior Program, Rakuten is offering services like unlimited 15-minute calls, in-store support, and spam and virus guard at lower price points.
When it comes to Japan’s youth market, Rakuten has the “highest share of youth” with much of Rakuten’s youth population sitting in major cities, like Tokyo, Saga, and Nagoya. “That’s where we focused our rollout since the first day,” said Verma. “The data consumption is one of the highest in the Japanese market because the youth consume more data.”
The Saikyo youth services from Rakuten Mobile offer users aged 22 and under 3GB of data, free domestic calls using the Rakuten Link app, and data for ¥780/month (¥858 incl. tax). The discount is valid until the month before the user’s 23rd birthday and requires an online application.
AI for internal process improvement and efficiency
Rakuten Mobile is heavily integrating AI for an “AI-first” culture, aiming for operational efficiency gains, even achieving Level 4 on the TM Forum’s Autonomous Networks scale for energy efficiency, specifically within the “RAN Energy Efficiency Optimization” scenario (GB1059H). Using advanced AI-driven and automated capabilities, the company has optimized power consumption across the RAN.
“Telco is expanding, and complexity is growing with 4G, 5G, IoT, terrestrial and non-terrestrial. You cannot address the size, scale and speed with something traditional,” said Verma, talking about the creation of sustainable 5G and next-gen data network operations. “You have to be cloud native and AI first as a telecom operator in Japan, and globally as well, which has driven the technology choices we’ve made in terms of Open-RAN, software state, cloud native, and other technologies that are our foundation.”
“A huge focus is energy optimization for operators, since 60-70% of OPEX goes into powering the network,” said Verma, pointing to Rakuten’s AI-driven homegrown solution, RAN Intelligent Controller, a cloud-native platform that integrates AI/ML to automate and optimize Open RAN (4G/5G) networks. It hosts xApps and rApps to perform tasks like energy savings, traffic steering, and QoS management, significantly reducing manual engineering efforts. The solution uses in-house and third-party ML algorithms to analyze traffic patterns and predict demand, achieving energy reduction and automatically adjusting antenna configurations in real time for better network quality.
“An intent-driven network reduces consumption at radio sites, and we have benchmarked this piece, achieving 20% power reduction,” said Verma. “Automation means that when the site is less consumed, the power is reduced, and when the site is not used, it shuts down the power. And when it is traffic serving, it automatically enhances the network.”
To continue enhancing the AI-driven processes, Rakuten is embedding AI into all solutions, with rigorous testing before roll-outs. The company is focusing on AI competence, hiring engineers and also retraining and retooling existing resources with an aggressive workforce AI program.
“We are taking a phased approach, educating the existing workforce – those with the telco domain expertise – and using AI programs to better enable them,” said Verma, noting 82% of the people in the company now use AI in their day-to-day work. He admits that “sometimes people are very deeply rooted in domain expertise, but when they see how AI is enhancing what their co-workers are doing, they become more open to it.”
The company also hires recent grads from institutions and universities, and every week, there is an “Asakai” Monday morning meeting in which AI-native employees and non-AI-native employees meet to discuss the AI use cases that optimize and bring efficiencies, which inspires and motivates everyone on the teams.
Radisys – Rakuten Mobile partnership in Japan
Rakuten Mobile leverages Radisys through its Engage Digital Platform (EDP), accelerating the development, deployment, and monetization of AI-powered and digital communication services. Radisys provides disaggregated platforms and software that align with Rakuten’s goal of using open, cloud-native architecture rather than proprietary hardware.
“We want the fundamental thought process to be that you build a platform once and put multiple use cases on top. The services Radisys comes up with enhances our technology for better quality for customers and society,” said Verma, mentioning the goal to develop, deploy, and monetize AI-powered and digital communication services with the “The Build Once, Launch Many” approach – a platform-driven approach that allows for rapid scaling and development of various use cases on a single, flexible, and open software platform.
