Japan backs Open RAN trials

Japan has picked Rakuten Symphony to run subsidized Open RAN trials in seven overseas markets, turning a telecom architecture debate into a field test. (telecomtv.com) Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry selected the project under its Global South Future-Oriented Co-Creation programme, with support set at up to ¥8 billion, or about $50 million to $56 million depending on the conversion used by trade publications. (lightreading.com) (mobileworldlive.com) The pilot markets are Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Kuwait, Bolivia and Paraguay. Rakuten said it plans to build about 100 virtualized Open RAN base stations in each country and use those networks to test a RAN Intelligent Controller, or RIC. (rakuten.co.jp) Open RAN is a way to build the radio part of a mobile network with standardized links between components, so carriers can mix hardware and software from different suppliers instead of buying a tightly bundled system from one vendor. The O-RAN Alliance publishes the specifications for those interfaces and functions. (o-ran.org) (gsma.com) The RAN Intelligent Controller is the software layer in that design that tunes the network while it is running, using apps and data feeds to adjust performance, energy use and traffic handling. O-RAN documents define the controller and the interfaces it uses to talk to network elements and management systems. (open-ran.org) (docs.o-ran-sc.org) Japan is funding the trials in markets where operators often face difficult terrain, weaker power infrastructure, disaster-recovery costs and expensive 5G upgrades. Rakuten said the project is aimed at proving Open RAN and RIC in commercial network conditions outside Japan. (rakuten.co.jp) That matters because Open RAN has spent years moving between lab tests, policy support and limited rollouts, while carriers have pressed vendors to show that multi-supplier systems can work at scale. GSMA said major operators only began giving the model higher-profile endorsements in late 2023. (gsma.com) Rakuten is using its own network as proof that the software stack can move beyond pilots. In February 2026, Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony said they had completed a nationwide deployment of RIC applications across Rakuten Mobile’s commercial network in Japan. (corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp) Rakuten had already said in May 2025 that a nationwide RIC platform in its Japanese Open RAN network could cut network energy consumption by up to 20%. That claim came from Rakuten, not an independent audit, but it is part of the operating case the company is now taking abroad. (corp.mobile.rakuten.co.jp) The next test is whether seven parallel deployments can produce repeatable operating patterns that carriers, vendors and standards groups can reuse. Japan is paying for the trial phase; the harder question is how many of those 100-site demonstrations turn into full commercial networks. (telecoms.com)