Rakuten Steals the Show at Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024
More than 100,000 visitors, from across the globe, came together in-person last month for Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024 (MWC), the world’s largest and most influential annual connectivity event.
Returning to MWC for the fifth time, Rakuten made its presence felt at the event with a captivating lineup of speaker sessions at the Rakuten booth, experience zones offering visitors in-depth info about the company’s cutting-edge product offerings, meetings with industry leaders, and more.
Under the banner of “Telecom Reinvented,” Rakuten showcased its pioneering software-first approach to building and operating mobile networks, highlighting its AI capabilities, comprehensive ecosystem and mission to connect everybody.
Rakuten’s Leadership on Stage
The Rakuten Booth featured a busy schedule of speaker sessions throughout the four-day event, including headlining presentations from Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Mickey Mikitani and Rakuten Mobile co-CEO Sharad Sriwastawa, who both provided updates on the company’s ambitious vision for driving innovation in global telecom.
Amit Patel, CEO of Rakuten International spoke in front of an enthusiast audience on Day 1 of MWC about Rakuten International’s diverse range of businesses, sharing how these entities can help with retention, engagement and monetization from a telco standpoint. Cedric Defour, CEO of Rakuten TV and Ofir Eyal, CEO of Rakuten Viber followed Patel’s opening by offering insights into their innovative content services, messaging app offerings, and the relevant synergies they have been able to build with partners.
“We started this journey about six years ago when nobody really believed virtualization for RAN was going to work,” said Mikitani, during his Day 2 keynote address. “We were the challenger and we decided to take the journey to democratize wireless networks.”
A pioneering partnership in Europe brought 1&1 CEO Michael Martin together with Rakuten Symphony Chief Business Officer Rabih Dabboussi and telecom industry analyst Roy Chua to discuss the recent launch of 1&1’s mobile services in Germany.
Noted Dabboussi during the session, “our intent and vision is to really transform industries across the globe by demonstrating models that are better than the past.”
Later in Day 2, Sriwastawa shared the stage with AT&T’s SVP of Technology & Network Services Yigal Elbaz and industry analyst Chetan Sharma, to discuss operational transformation in the era of AI.
Headlining Day 3 was a fascinating panel discussion focused on Rakuten’s transformative approach to leveraging AI in telecom. Moderated by Appledore Research’s Robert Curran, the session included Rakuten’s Chief Data Officer Ting Cai, Rakuten Symphony OSS Head Rahul Atri and Rakuten Mobile Head of Data Science, Madhukiran Medithe.
“People always talk about AI, but what are we achieving from it? What is the ROI? The efficiency? And how are you evolving your organization to be AI-native? That is what we specialize in,” asserted Atri. He also spoke about the integral role of ecosystem technologies and the advantage that Rakuten Symphony enjoys of having Rakuten Mobile as its first customer and innovation sandbox.
Noted Cai during the session, “with all our ecosystem capabilities, we can enable telcos to move up the value chain – beyond operating the network to offer value-added services such a marketing, advertising and search – connecting customers with the services we provide. That is a great opportunity to leverage AI.”
Making Headlines in Barcelona
During MWC 2024, Rakuten made significant announcements regarding a number of global partnerships. On Day 1, Rakuten announced a partnership with OpenAI to develop and deliver advanced AI tools tailored for the telecommunications industry. On the same day, Rakuten Symphony launched the “Real Open RAN Licensing Program,” facilitating global adoption of its award-winning Open RAN software.
Additionally, Rakuten signed a Letter of Intent with Kyivstar, committing to assist in rebuilding Ukraine’s digital infrastructure using Open RAN and 5G technologies.
Collaboration with NOW Telecom initiated a 5G Open RAN Pilot Deployment in the Philippines, accelerating the adoption of 5G technology and Rakuten Mobile partnered with Nokia to deploy “Platinum Band” mobile network radios in Japan, promising enhanced connectivity for users.
Rakuten Symphony announced that The UK Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has procured Rakuten Symphony’s OpenRAN for use in the United Kingdom TelecomS Labs (UKTL).
The company also announced that Telecom Egypt, the country’s first fully integrated telecom operator, marked a historic milestone with the first successful trial call via Open RAN technology in North Africa in collaboration with Cisco, and the global Telecom Infra Project (TIP).
Business, Bubbly and Big Wins
Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony’s commitment to innovation and excellence was acknowledged as it received the “Market Development and Monetization Award” at the Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) Awards 2024. This recognition underscores Rakuten’s prowess in leveraging AI for proactive network maintenance and optimizing service quality.
With over 135 meetings, a vibrant booth celebration event and a handful of major partnership announcements, Rakuten’s attendance at MWC 2024 was nothing short of impactful. As the telecom industry evolves, Rakuten is continuing to lead the way, redefining standards and driving innovation to create a more connected world.
