There is a lot of hype around Open RAN right now, largely stoked by vendors shouting about the many benefits it delivers.

In Rakuten Symphony’s estimation, are operators buying the hype?

Hype is not productive in any context. Neither is saying that something isn’t ready or it’s not possible to do.

Business Results and Outcomes

We have to start talking about the business results and the business outcomes we want to achieve to bring us to parity with other modern digital service providers if we want to maintain relevance and an ability to react in the market. This conversation is missing. We are caught in a back-and-forth that doesn’t allow us to educate ourselves on what is possible.

Incredibly Hard Journey

We at Rakuten Symphony have been created to share what we understand and have learned from Rakuten Mobile for and to the benefit of the rest of the industry. And let me be clear, the journey that Rakuten Mobile has been on has been the Rakuten Mobile journey. Each journey will be unique for each operator. Technology has been standardized, business has not. And each journey is hard.

New way to solve different problems

The journey of everybody is going to be their own journey. So if you choose to implement densification of a 4G network and want to use Open RAN because of real estate challenges for that densification, let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the replacement if you have to swap out coverage from a vendor that is no longer available for you to use.

Let’s talk about how to do that in a new way. So let’s break the conversation down into different problems that we need to solve and identify whether we can solve those in new, different ways with different outcomes.

short
Winner – Private Network Startups – Niral Networks, deploys private 5G and Edge AI network at GMR’s energy facility which faced critical connectivity and safety challenges. This air-gapped, industrial-grade solution supports plant automation, AI surveillance, and drone operations, offering high throughput, low latency, and centralized management across multiple sites.
short
In a detailed conversation with Rakuten Symphony’s Geoff Hollingworth, this article explores how Rakuten Mobile’s Open RAN rollout defied industry skepticism and set a new bar for telecom transformation. With over 275,000 cells deployed and just 250 staff, Rakuten’s software-centric model shows how cloud-native, virtualized networks can scale—offering key lessons for both greenfield and brownfield operators.

Your Brand. Our Intelligence Tools.

Capture leads at the point of evaluation. Talk to Us →

Sponsored by Palo Alto Networks
⚡ Utilities ⏱ 8 min ✓ Free
This tool is built and hosted by TeckNexus.
Launch Tool →
Whitepaper
This whitepaper explains how utilities can use secure AI-enabled private mobile networks to modernize operations, support distributed intelligence, improve resilience, and strengthen cybersecurity across critical infrastructure. It covers AI applications, private network advantages, zero trust principles, multilayered security architecture, and governance considerations for AI-ready utility environments....
Whitepaper
Non-terrestrial networks are rapidly evolving from experimental satellite systems into an increasingly important part of the global 5G connectivity landscape. This eBook, developed by Radisys in collaboration with TeckNexus, explores how 3GPP standardization, satellite architecture innovation, and software-driven network design are reshaping NTN deployment models. It examines the transition from...
Whitepaper
Private cellular networks are transforming industrial operations, but securing private 5G, LTE, and CBRS infrastructure requires more than legacy IT/OT tools. This whitepaper by TeckNexus and sponsored by OneLayer outlines a 4-pillar framework to protect critical systems, offering clear guidance for evaluating security vendors, deploying zero trust, and integrating IT,...

Feature Your Brand in Upcoming Magazines

Showcase your expertise through a sponsored article or executive interview in TeckNexus magazines, reaching enterprise and industry decision-makers.

Private Network Solutions - TeckNexus

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Tech News & Insight
Tech News & Insight
Tech News & Insight
Tech News & Insight
Scroll to Top

Map your security gaps to real threat scenarios – including Salt Typhoon, Volt Typhoon, AI data poisoning, rogue devices, and unencrypted OT traffic.

Take the free 8-minute assessment built for utility operators evaluating AI-enabled private mobile networks. Get a readiness score across five critical domains, see where your gaps are, and receive a prioritized action plan for what to fix first.

Free • 8 minutes • Built for private network security