SAN DIEGO – Rakuten Symphony, Inc., a global leader in cloud-native, Open RAN telco infrastructure platforms, services and solutions, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced plans for Rakuten Mobile, Inc. (Rakuten Symphony's parent company) and Qualcomm Technologies to collaborate to develop a next-generation 5G Radio Unit (RU) with Massive MIMO capabilities and distributed units (DUs).

Using the Qualcomm® X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card and high-performance Massive MIMO Qualcomm® QRU100 5G RAN Platform, the new products are designed to enhance Rakuten Symphony's Symware product portfolio of Open RAN solutions that enable the deployment of innovative, virtualized, and open 5G networks at scale and help operators to meet performance demands at the edge.

Around the world, operators are beginning to deploy Open RAN and cloud-native architecture in their networks which offer greater agility and provide new levels of automation while broadening and securing their supply chain. Network operators are facing the difficult challenge of rolling out cost-effective 5G network infrastructure, while addressing the complexities of supporting the demands of next-generation networks for high capacity and low latency needed to enhance user experiences to consumers. With the accelerated growth in mobile data traffic, network operators are seeking higher capacity platforms to satisfy end users' needs.

Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony and Qualcomm Technologies aim to deliver a high-performance Open RAN Massive MIMO solution that supports configurations of up to 64T64R, which will enhance coverage, improve cell-edge data speeds, as well as increase the overall capacity of the network. This will also enable enhanced speed in the rollout of 5G networks with high performance O-RAN compliant infrastructure products.

This high-performance and power-efficient solution, powered by Qualcomm QRU100 5G RAN Platform with Massive MIMO capabilities and Qualcomm X100 5G RAN Accelerator Card, will also simplify and lower total cost of ownership of 5G deployments.

Combining Rakuten Symphony's cloud-native and Open RAN-based network expertise with Qualcomm Technologies' technology leadership in developing high performance and low power Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) 5G solutions for device and infrastructure products will redefine how mobile networks are designed and how next-gen services are delivered, offering operators new opportunities to create innovation within their networks.

"Rakuten Symphony is passionately committed to enabling the transformation of mobile networks for the digital-centric future and we are honored to have our group's opportunity to collaborate with global technology leaders such as Qualcomm Technologies to achieve this goal," said Tareq Amin, chief executive officer, Rakuten Symphony, Inc. "The new RUs and DUs developed with the support of Qualcomm Technologies aim to offer mobile operators and other organizations a dynamic and cost-effective way to deploy high-performance, virtualized 5G networks through the adoption of O-RAN-compliant software and infrastructure."

"Qualcomm Technologies is pleased to collaborate with Rakuten Mobile, the parent company of Rakuten Symphony on the development of comprehensive solutions from Open RAN 5G Radio Units with Massive MIMO capabilities to high-performance Distributed Units platforms. Through this collaboration, our collective aim is to accelerate next generation 5G mobile infrastructure global adoption, and this milestone will help operators meet performance demands at the edge and provide enhanced user experiences," said Durga Malladi, senior vice president and general manager, 5G, mobile broadband and infrastructure, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "As a technology leader in 5G, Qualcomm Technologies is dedicated to driving the industry forward and pushing the envelope of innovation. We can only achieve this goal by working with other likeminded industry leaders and innovators such as Rakuten Symphony."

"We are delighted to enter a new phase in our longtime relationship with Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony, building on our shared vision to make 5G networks more flexible, cost efficient and transforming them into a platform for innovation with our comprehensive Qualcomm® 5G RAN Platforms," said Junko Sunaga, vice president, Qualcomm Japan GK, and president, Qualcomm Japan. "Joining forces with Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony is at the heart of advancing the cellular ecosystem and accelerating the innovation cycle to enable the fast track of deploying modern networks at scale. We look forward to continuing this collaboration."

Qualcomm