Rakuten Mobile said that this O-RAN research initiative is expected to last until June 2026

Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile announced the launch of a new research and development project with the aim of developing advanced Open RAN integration infrastructure.

The operator said that this launch is in line with its selection for the research theme of “development of advanced O-RAN integration infrastructure technology” by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

As part of this research and development project, Rakuten Mobile will collaborate with Rakuten Symphony to develop standardized Open RAN software, proof-of-concept (PoC) environment models and automated quality assurance systems for telecom operators.

Sharad Sriwastawa, CTO at Rakuten Mobile, said: “The successful rollout and operations of Rakuten Mobile’s world-first end-to-end virtualized network is already a clear demonstration to the world of the potential benefits of Open RAN technology, in terms of significant savings in capital expenditure, operating costs and the agility of our network in delivering on our customer needs and expectations for the future. This research and development project selected by NEDO ideally positions us to share these learnings and benefits with other telecom operators and their subscribers.”

Through this research, Rakuten Mobile aims to develop standardized Open RAN software and efficient quality assurance systems that will accommodate multiple different spectrum bands and other requirements of individual telecom operators.

The carrier said that this research initiative is expected to last until June 2026.

Rakuten Mobile said that the initiative aims to develop standardized software that meets the requirements of different telco carriers, countries and regions, while being independent of specific operator environments. The goal is to enhance efficiency of the integration process and reduce obstacles to implementation of Open RAN for telecom carriers.

Also, Rakuten Mobile will establish a common cloud-enabled Open RAN PoC environment model for telco carriers by leveraging the knowledge gained through Rakuten Mobile’s commercial O-RAN network operations.

The initiative also stipulates the development of an automated Open RAN quality assurance system for global telecoms, as well as a quality assurance system aimed at achieving automation of quality verification for key, specified O-RAN Alliance standard categories for Open RAN software and telecommunications hardware.

The initiative also seeks to develop a mechanism to reflect the results of field PoCs with global carriers in the Open RAN automated quality assurance system, Rakuten Mobile said.