Rakuten has pledged to make open RAN architectures easily accessible and deployable, even by operators without significant engineering teams and budgets, by packaging up pre-integrated combinations of hardware and software.
It launched its Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) in late 2019 with this aim in mind, building on its own network architecture, intellectual property and deployment experience. This month, it has added its latest vendor partner, Airspan, to the platform – which also works on joint sales and go-to-market strategies.
The RCP concept has gained strong support from Telefónica – though that alliance, in itself, gave rise to fears that the dreams of a fully open RAN market might be compromised in the interests of convenience.
Rakuten set out a fine vision of operators being able to select virtual network functions from an app store and run them almost automatically on a wide range of radios and cloud servers, but real results will rely on a huge effort in terms of validation and interoperability testing behind the scenes, to ensure these levels of rapid roll-out without sacrificing high end 5G performance.
Organizations such as Telecom Infra Project (TIP) and Open Networking Foundation (ONF) are working hard to establish validation and integration processes that will be key enablers of the broadest possible ecosystem, but it remains a fact that establishing such frameworks, achieving wide vendor and operator support, and running events such as plugfests, will be a multiyear effort.
For operators that want to move more quickly, the temptation will be to invest in a customized solution (if budget and resources allow), encouraging key suppliers to open up their network elements or support interfaces on a one-off basis (as Nokia did for Rakuten’s 4G RAN, for instance). Or they may welcome a solution that has been pre-integrated by a trusted third party – a vendor, or by an operator, which is where the RCP comes in, and potentially other operator-driven frameworks, as promised by NTT Docomo, Reliance Jio and others.
Ideally these will coalesce into a common framework rather than providing multiple fragmented solutions that may end up in a new set of lock-ins. Certainly, RCP has the momentum so far even if it largely rests on technologies, so far at least, that have been included in Rakuten’s iconic but highly individualistic network. The involvement of Telefónica, with its years of experience of developing its UNICA telco cloud, and its active open RAN trials with multiple partners, may help to broaden the platform.
Most recently, Rakuten has added hardware and software from Airspan Networks, which is a significant supplier to its network, mainly in the areas of small cells and millimeter wave radios. Airspan has itself announced an alliance with Altiostar to offer a pre-integrated solution based on the former’s radios and the latter’s RAN software – a combination in use at Rakuten. But Airspan’s own vRAN software will also be added to RCP, as well as its hardware.
The deal sees Airspan include its OpenRANGE platform, which conforms to Open RAN specifications such as O-RAN open fronthaul, in RCP. Just as importantly for many vendors will be the support from Rakuten, and other RCP participants, in raising profile and facilitating market expansion. Airspan will also work with the Japanese operator on a go-to-market strategy and a joint sales proposition.
Rakuten began demonstrating RCP last August and claims it can reduce capex for mobile operators by 40% and opex by 30% compared to traditional platforms and supplier relationships.