Zain and Rakuten Symphony partner to deploy Cloud-Native Open RAN

KUWAIT: Zain Kuwait and Rakuten Symphony have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will see the organizations collaborate on a pilot project to establish a functional cloud-native Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) in the country. Zain Kuwait will utilize Rakuten Symphony’s ORAN and Cloudportfolio to deliver 5G Standalone sites as part of a project that will represent Kuwait’s first Open RAN deployment of its kind.

The MoU was signed at Rakuten Symphony’s headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, by Daaij Al-Oud, Chief Technology Officer at Zain Kuwait, and Sharad Sriwastawa, President of Rakuten Symphony, along with executive teams from both partners. The project will be the initial phase for planned large scale commercial deployment of Open RAN in Kuwait and across Zain Group, which operates in eight markets across the Middle East and North Africa region.

As part of the project, Rakuten Symphony will supply its innovative Open RAN virtualized Distributed Unit and Centralized Unit software, along with cloud-native virtualized software, as well as ensuring that its Open RAN solution is fully functional and capable of handling commercial traffic. Zain Kuwait will allocate the required cell sites as well as providing data center infrastructure and 5G SAcore with related transport connectivity.

Al-Oud and Sriwastawa with Zain and Rakuten Symphony executives in Tokyo.

Exchange of commemorative gifts.

Daaij Al-Oud said, “This collaboration with Rakuten Symphony marks a significant step in our journey to transform Kuwait’s telecom infrastructure. By piloting the country’s first cloud-native Open RAN deployment, we aim to unlock new levels of network agility, efficiency and scalability. This initiative is not just a technological milestone for Zain Kuwait, but a strategic move that aligns with our broader vision of leading digital innovation across the region.”

Sharad Sriwastawa said, “Rakuten Symphony is pleased to support Zain Kuwait in delivering the country’s first Open RAN deployment of its kind. By venturing into networks driven by cloud-native, open principles and leveraging Rakuten Symphony’s proven portfolio, Zain Kuwait has the potential to realize the benefits of increased operational flexibility and reduced time to market, in turn delivering better performance for customers.” Rakuten Mobile, in collaboration with Rakuten Symphony, will apply the achievements obtained from the “Research and Development Project of the Enhanced Infrastructures for Post-5G Information and Communication Systems (JPNP20017)”, subsidized by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

• Daaij Al-Oud: “By piloting the country’s first cloud-native Open RAN deployment, we aim to unlock new levels of network agility, efficiency and scalability”

• Sharad Sriwastawa: “Leveraging Rakuten Symphony’s proven portfolio, Zain aims to boost network agility and accelerate service delivery for an enhanced customer experience”