The two companies will develop a reference blueprint for mobile broadband networks and Open RAN technology.
Etisalat has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rakuten Mobile to blueprint technology that will speed up the telecom providers 5G network development and introduce more cost-effective services.
The two companies will develop a reference blueprint for mobile broadband networks and Open RAN technology, based on the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), according to a statement from Rakuten Mobile.
They aim to jointly develop a reference design for a new generation of mobile networks for Etisalat customers across the Middle East, Africa and Asia based on open standards and a cloud-native, software-centric and fully virtualised/containerised platform with intelligent and secure operations, the statement said.
Hatem Bamatraf, CTO, Etisalat International, said: This is a unique opportunity for Etisalat and Rakuten Mobile to co-explore and further develop next-generation mobile networks based on RCP that will allow Etisalat to leverage a cost-effective, cloud-native, Open RAN based mobile network architecture that is secure, scalable and reliable.
