Business Wire

Rakuten Mobile and NEC Begin Production of Open RAN 5G Radio Equipment

24.3.2020 05:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release

Share

Rakuten Mobile, Inc. and NEC Corporation today announced that production of the 5th generation mobile communications system (5G) radio unit (RU) jointly developed by the two companies has started at NEC Platforms, Ltd.’s Fukushima Plant, and the first unit has been shipped.

“NEC’s 5G RU, developed and produced in Japan, will play a very important role in Rakuten Mobile’s fully virtualized cloud native mobile network,” said Tareq Amin, Rakuten Mobile Director, Vice President and CTO. “With the launch of production of the 5G radio unit, we will begin work on the construction of our 5G base stations and will aim to provide our subscribers with a cost efficient, highly secure, high quality 5G service.”

“NEC is very proud to be part of Rakuten Mobile’s advanced 5G network,” said Atsuo Kawamura, Executive Vice President and President of the Network Services Business Unit, NEC Corporation. “The 5G RU, produced at our Fukushima Plant, conforms with open architecture standards, and comes in a compact form factor with low power consumption. By expanding the open 5G ecosystem, NEC will contribute to the creation of new mobile services around the world.”

The new domestically produced, high quality 5G RU is equipped with a 3.7 GHz frequency band massive MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) antenna in a compact, lightweight form factor with low power consumption. With the 5G RU, Rakuten Mobile will begin the buildout of its 5G network, starting with the construction of base stations in the Tokyo area*1, and work toward the launch of 5G commercial services in June 2020.

Rakuten Mobile is building the world’s first end-to-end fully virtualized cloud native network*2, and in October 2019 in Japan successfully implemented the world’s first open, virtualized, distributed radio access network (OpenRAN). In addition, Rakuten Mobile and NEC are also closely collaborating on BSS and OSS solutions for Rakuten Mobile’s 4G network operations.

*1 Rakuten Mobile received licenses for 5G radio stations (base stations) from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for Setagaya City and Koto City on March 6, 2020.
*2 For a large scale commercial mobile network (as of October 1, 2019), Research: Stella Associa

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

Contact information

Rakuten Corporate Communications Department
global-pr@mail.rakuten.com

NEC Corporate Communications Division
Joseph Jasper
j-jasper(at)nec.com

About Business Wire

For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Jeito Capital Bolsters Its Leadership Team With the Appointment of Elaine Caughey, MBA, as Partner, Business Development and Investor Relations, and Sarah Shackelton, MPA, as Partner, Talent5.5.2026 13:37:00 EEST | Press release

Jeito Capital (“Jeito”), a leading global independent private equity fund dedicated to Biopharma, today announces the appointments of Elaine Caughey, MBA, as Partner, Business Development and Investor Relations, and Sarah Shackelton, MPA, as Partner, Talent. With extensive senior leadership experience across top-tier life-sciences investment funds, pharma and Biopharma companies, Elaine Caughey and Sarah Shackelton bring deep expertise in life sciences operations, investment, recruitment, and team building. Their appointments are synergistic and aligned with Jeito’s strategy, combining complementary skills across the full drug value chain to support portfolio company development and advance breakthrough therapies for patients. Building on a series of recent high-profile hires — including Samit Hirawat, M.D. as Strategic Medical Advisor, bringing senior leadership and clinical development experience at Novartis and Bristol Myers Squibb; Karin Van Baelen as Chief Regulatory Advisor, with

Datang Mobile, KPN, NEC and Wilus are Latest Licensors to Join Sisvel POS Patent Pool as Incentive Deadline Nears5.5.2026 11:02:00 EEST | Press release

Datang Mobile, KPN, NEC and Wilus have become the latest licensors in the Sisvel point of sale (POS) patent pool. They join seven other patent owners in making their 2G-5G cellular portfolios available through the programme: BlackBerry, Huawei, JVCKENWOOD, LG Electronics, Nokia, Sisvel and SK Telecom. The period for Sisvel POS licensors to benefit from early participation incentives is set to close on 15 May. Cellular patent owners interested in becoming involved should contact Sisvel as soon as possible. The pool, which is the first in the market to address the POS vertical, was announced at the beginning of April, with Huawei, LG Electronics and Nokia as founding licensors. “We have received a great response from the market so far, and I am pleased to welcome Datang, KPN, NEC and Wilus as the latest licensors,” says POS programme manager Sven Törringer. “We have put together a formidable group of cellular technology innovators, and there are many more companies in the pipeline. I am

Bregal Milestone Announces Majority Growth Investment in meteoviva, an AI-Powered Building Energy Management Solution5.5.2026 11:01:00 EEST | Press release

Bregal Milestone, a leading European software growth private equity firm, today announced a majority growth investment in meteoviva GmbH (“meteoviva” or the “Company”), a pioneer in AI-powered predictive building energy management. meteoviva's intelligent solutions combine a proprietary physics-based thermodynamic model with AI to deliver energy cost reductions of up to 45 percent across large-scale commercial real estate portfolios, without structural retrofits. meteoviva is widely recognised as a market leader in autonomous building energy management, with over 500 buildings across 19 countries, accounting for 11.5 million square metres of real estate under active control. Its customer base includes some of Europe's most demanding buildings, among them Germany's largest office building, The Squaire at Frankfurt Airport, the BMW Group IT Centre in Munich, and the DC Tower in Vienna. meteoviva is the first provider in its category certified by the German Sustainable Building Council (D

OCTO and Sedgwick Announce Strategic Telematics Partnership5.5.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release

OCTO, a global leader in telematics and data analytics, today announced a strategic partnership with Sedgwick, the world’s leading provider of claims and risk management solutions. Together, the two companies will reshape the future of insurance and mobility by combining advanced telematics with claims management services. The collaboration aims to create a new model where telematics and efficiency come together to transform the customer experience. By integrating OCTO’s cutting-edge telematics insights with Sedgwick’s global expertise in claims handling, the partnership will unlock a series of tangible benefits: enhanced speed and accuracy in crash and claims intake, quicker and more consistent liability assessments, fraud validation and reduction, optimized alerts to improve driver safety, and significant reductions in the overall cost and lifecycle of claims. The joint solution is telematics-agnostic, able to ingest data from connected cars, fleet management systems, or OCTO’s own o

Schindler Selects Navan to Elevate Global Travel Operations5.5.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release

Navan (NASDAQ: NAVN), the global AI-powered business travel and expense management platform, today announced it has been selected by Schindler, the leading provider of sustainable and smart urban mobility, to modernize its global travel program. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260505725595/en/ Leading provider of sustainable and smart urban mobility deploys Navan to deliver a seamless experience for its workforce With over 150 years of industry innovation, Schindler has reshaped mobility in urban societies, growing from a local manufacturer into a global elevator, escalators and moving walkways business. To support its next phase of growth, the company has chosen to consolidate its travel operations – moving away from a fragmented online booking model. By deploying Navan, Schindler is now unifying its travel management across North America and Europe, initially covering Canada, the United States, France, Portu

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye