Equinix enables Rakuten Mobile to bring its Rakuten Communications Platform to international markets

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company, today announced that Rakuten Mobile Singapore Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Rakuten Mobile, Inc., has selected Platform Equinix^® as a foundation to deliver its Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) to global operators and enterprise customers. The deployment will be completed in phases, with initial deployment in Singapore, the location of Rakuten Mobile's international headquarters, and Los Angeles with future expansions planned across the U.S., EMEA and Asia-Pacific. 

Demand for network services is predicted to grow globally. According to the Global Interconnection Index (GXI) Volume 3, a market study published by Equinix, interconnecting to multiple network providers across multiple edge locations is the most prominent use case for interconnection bandwidth and is expected to grow 4x by 2022. Governments and enterprises are seeking secure, affordable and scalable ways to meet this growing demand, which Rakuten envisions to be achieved via RCP.

Rakuten Mobile intends to offer RCP as a set of key technologies and services that allows governments, telecom companies and enterprises a way to easily build and deploy fully cloud-native network services at speed and low cost. With plans underway to roll out RCP on a global scale, Rakuten Mobile selected Platform Equinix after a thorough evaluation process to address its dynamic needs.

In order to enable customers around the world to deploy RCP in an open, scalable and highly secure manner, Equinix's global footprint and reliable infrastructure is expected to be integral to the global growth of RCP. 

Highlights / Key Facts:

·       Rakuten Mobile, the world's first end-to-end cloud-native network operator, launched full 4G service deployment in Japan earlier this year and is scheduled to launch commercial 5G services later this year.
 

·       The deployment with Equinix enables Rakuten Mobile to amplify and accelerate the global expansion of RCP through Equinix's global footprint and diverse ecosystems. Leveraging Platform Equinix's globally distributed and reliable network infrastructure, Rakuten Mobile will be able to deliver secure, high-speed and low-latency network services to its customers outside of Japan.
 

·       Rakuten Mobile will join Platform Equinix's interconnected global ecosystem, with over 2,900 cloud service providers (CSPs) and 1,800 network service providers (NSPs). In addition, Rakuten Mobile will also be able to deploy and connect virtual network services at the edge in minutes, on demand, addressing the dynamic interconnection bandwidth requirements and network spikes.

Quotes:

·       Tareq Amin, Chief Technology Officer, Rakuten Mobile
"We are thrilled to collaborate with Equinix to support the global expansion of our telecommunications business through Rakuten Communications Platform. Equinix's global footprint, enterprise-grade facilities and strong network capabilities make it the ideal partner for us to bring the deployment of cloud-native mobile networks to telecom and enterprise companies around the world."
 

·       Justin Dustzadeh, Chief Technology Officer, Equinix
"Today marks the beginning of a strong and solid collaboration with Rakuten Mobile. The first phase of deployment in Singapore and Los Angeles lays ground for future international expansion of its mobile business. With Platform Equinix, Rakuten Mobile can take advantage of our global footprint and solid network ecosystems to deliver high-speed, low-latency and secure services to its customers around the globe. We look forward to furthering this collaboration and are excited to see what the future holds."