The leading operators that shared their experiences of Open RAN at the FYUZ event were generally positive about progress on the platform, but highlighted systems integration as the most significant challenge in terms of cost and time to market. The issues of integrating and optimizing a multivendor solution have largely been addressed inhouse by early movers so far – Rakuten Mobile famously hired about 300 engineers for the purpose. And some of those early deployer now plan to commercialize their experience for others – not just Rakuten, via its Symphony arm, but fellow Japanese MNO NTT Docomo, and no doubt others to follow. Docomo’s global head of Open RAN solutions, Sadayuki Abeta, said the operator had been able to “mix…