Rakuten Symphony selected for METI grant to strengthen Ukraine’s telecom infrastructure with Open RAN

• Open RAN demonstration in Ukraine enters next phase with field testing in collaboration with leading digital operator Kyivstar

Tokya, Japan – Rakuten Symphony, Inc. today announced its selection for a grant from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) under the FY2024 Supplementary Budget’s Subsidy Program for Future-Oriented Co-creation Projects with the Global South (Support for Ukraine’s Reconstruction and Strengthening Cooperation with Central and Eastern European Countries)^*1. Rakuten Symphony’s selection was made for its Demonstration Project for Strengthening Telecom Infrastructure with Virtualized Open RAN during the second round of grant applications.

Under the project, Rakuten Symphony will provide a cloud-native Open RAN environment in Ukraine and conduct validation testing to facilitate the construction and operation of flexible, cost-efficient networks. Rakuten Mobile will participate as a key collaborating partner.

Rakuten Symphony is already collaborating with Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest telecommunications operator and a wholly owned subsidiary of VEON Ltd., to deploy Open RAN in Ukraine and is conducting demonstration tests in the country. The companies are also collaborating across OSS, cloud technologies and the broader Rakuten Ecosystem to accelerate next-generation network transformation^*2. In the first phase of the project, the companies successfully completed lab testing of Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN and cloud solutions, validating key features and interoperability in a 4G environment. The second phase will involve expanding these capabilities to 4G/5G configurations and conducting field tests.

The Open RAN 4G LTE field tests, carrying commercial customers, will be conducted around Kyiv to validate Open RAN performance in a live brownfield network. The deployment will evaluate both distributed RAN (D-RAN) and centralized RAN (C-RAN) architectures as part of a modernization initiative replacing legacy infrastructure, demonstrating the flexibility, resilience and operational benefits of open, cloud-native networks.

In parallel, 5G capabilities will be evaluated in a dedicated laboratory environment, providing a foundation for possible future commercial deployment.

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, the restoration and resilience of telecommunications infrastructure remain critical challenges. Through this project, Rakuten Symphony will support the rapid and efficient reconstruction of radio access networks and help enhance the technical capabilities required for autonomous network operations, with the goal of contributing to the nation’s economic recovery.

The total cost of the project is expected to be approximately 710 million yen, with up to 350 million yen potentially covered through the METI subsidy. Supported by the Japanese government, Rakuten Symphony aims to leverage its ongoing partnership with Kyivstar to validate stable network operations, thereby establishing a scalable business model for future commercial deployment.

Rakuten Mobile, in close collaboration with Rakuten Symphony and with the ongoing support of the Japanese government, is at the forefront of advancing cloud-native Open RAN network capabilities^*3. As a partner organization in this project, Rakuten Mobile will contribute its technical and operational expertise.

Through this initiative, Rakuten Symphony aims to further advance solutions to telecom infrastructure challenges by leveraging technology based on Open RAN specifications, while also contributing to Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts and enhanced network operations worldwide.