Rakuten Mobile Picks Nokia for Enhanced Coverage in Japan

Nokia has been selected by Rakuten Mobile, Inc. (Rakuten Mobile) to supply Radio Access Network (RAN) solutions from its comprehensive energy-efficient AirScale portfolio supporting the low 700MHz spectrum band.

The move will see Rakuten Mobile deliver enhanced coverage, capacity, and network performance to its customers across its end-to-end fully virtualized, cloud native OpenRAN mobile network in Japan.

Under the Rakuten Mobile deal, Nokia will supply equipment from its next generation AirScale radio access product portfolio powered by its ReefShark System-on-Chip (SoC) technology. Low band 4G spectrum enables wider area coverage and reaches deeper into buildings than higher frequencies and will allow Rakuten Mobile to bring 4G to even more customers.

Sharad Sriwastawa, Co-CEO of Rakuten Mobile and President of Rakuten Symphony, commented: “The addition of capacity in the 700MHz band will complement our existing 4G network and help us to deliver even higher-quality service to our customers with enhanced speed, capacity, and coverage. The flexibility of Nokia’s AirScale RAN portfolio made this an easy decision and we look forward to working with them moving forward.”

Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said: “This is an important win in a key market for Nokia and we are thrilled to support Rakuten Group on the evolution of its 4G network. With the addition of the 700MHz frequency to its spectrum assets, Rakuten Mobile will be able to offer advanced 4G services for both consumers and business users in indoor locations. With our industry-leading AirScale portfolio, we can support all deployment scenarios and frequency bands.”

Rakuten Mobile applied for the 700MHz spectrum, known as the 'platinum band', and received approval from the Japanese government's Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications in October 2023. Rakuten Mobile plans to expand its mobile service offering across the country. Rakuten Mobile will leverage existing base station sites for a sustainable and cost-efficient deployment.

In a separate negotiation, Nokia and Rakuten Mobile subsidiary, Rakuten Symphony, have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to provide AirScale RAN equipment to its customers in selected markets. Rakuten Symphony is a Rakuten Group company providing end-to-end integration B2B services for the global mobile telecom industry and enabling next-generation, cloud-based, international mobile services.