Riyadh and Tokyo – stc and Rakuten Mobile, Inc. announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim of collaborating in the field of innovation and strategic mobile technology. The two companies will explore future opportunities to collaborate in various technology domains, including, fully autonomous digital platform serving telecommunication cloud network, OpenRAN deployment options for greenfield and brownfield use-cases, operating models and business value realization.

With the signing of this MoU, stc and Rakuten Mobile aim to accelerate the delivery of mobile network services through the use of open technology that will facilitate and revolutionize wireless infrastructure. The new OpenRAN mobile access technology promises to improve the quality of many real-time services.

 Eng. Nasser S. Al Nasser, Group CEO, stc, said: “this MoU aims to expand our global partnerships and help diversify our strategic growth. We are confident this MoU will bring tangible results in terms of developing a new advance technology strategy and accelerating the early deployment of novel and sophisticated services. This is a vital role for us, as we continue with our Digital Transformation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, serving the 2030 vision.”

 “We are very excited about collaborating with stc and sharing our know-how of building new-generation telecommunication infrastructure,” said Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Inc. and CEO of Rakuten Mobile, Inc. “We believe that our open architecture and advanced OpenRAN technologies will help define a new generation of operators who are ideally positioned to place advanced customer experience and differentiated profitable services at the center of their offering.”

Rakuten Mobile, Inc., a subsidiary of Rakuten, Inc. a leading global internet services company headquartered in Tokyo, launched its commercial mobile operations in April this year, becoming the fourth mobile operator in Japan.  Rakuten’s network is the world’s first cloud-native, software-centric and fully virtualized mobile network. This innovative approach to building mobile networks brings both cost and operational efficiencies, as well as speed in deploying new services and generating additional revenue streams for the operator.

The new emerging technologies are also promising to deliver cost effective solutions in a quick and efficient manner. The signing of this MoU is in alignment with stc’s strategic drive for a strong digital future, while augmenting the Digital Transformation strategy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The two companies will be making further public announcements about progress and the accomplishment of their joint and collaborative efforts.