Orange’s wholesale arm, International Carriers, today announced that it has signed a contract with Rakuten, Inc. aimed at providing Rakuten Mobile, the new mobile operator service provided by Rakuten Mobile, Inc., with a complete range of LTE roaming services to enable international connectivity for its mobile subscribers.

Rakuten Mobile launched as Japan’s newest mobile network operator in October 2019 with the world’s first end-to-end, fully virtualised cloud-native mobile network.

This partnership with Orange allows Rakuten Mobile to provide its subscribers with international data roaming services around the world. The agreement also extends beyond international connectivity to include support from Orange professional services, enabling Rakuten Mobile to meet the needs of tomorrow’s customers.

With a global presence as a mobile network operator in 27 countries, Orange is an established leader in the provision of worldwide roaming services to operators and has long demonstrated its ability to manage complex wholesale outsourcing projects in the fields of roaming, voice and data services. Orange provided Rakuten with a complete roaming solution that enables Rakuten to directly connect with carriers in others countries via IPX network connection, supporting with industry-leading technical expertise on-site that allowed the network to be built in record time.

Through this partnership, Orange is delighted to be part of Rakuten’s pioneering approach. Orange and Rakuten are at the forefront of innovation and this partnership is the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation," “said Emmanuel Rochas, Chief Executive Officer of International Carriers at Orange.

Orange will continue to collaborate with Rakuten in order to meet the growing needs of the telecommunications industry.