Rakuten's Moves in the 5G Market Throw Down the Gauntlet in the CSP Ecosystem

In this newest episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, analysts Ron Westfall and Shelly Kramer discuss Rakuten's moves in the 5G market and how the company is essentially throwing down the gauntlet for the rest of the CSP ecosystem. In this conversation, we cover the benefits of the early mover advantage for CSPs, along with the implications for the Open RAN segment and the overall 5G market developments of the last week.

Some of the things we touched in this 5G-focused webcast included:

• Why Rakuten's acquisition of $1B acquisition of Altiostar is a 5G game changer. Rakuten is raising the competitive stakes across the entire 5G ecosystem. With this $1 billion acquisition of an Open RAN specialist, Rakuten is providing a template for how Communications Service Providers (CSPs) can gain a strategic competitive edge in the cloud-based 5G ecosystem – own more of the software assets key to long-term 5G build and innovation.
• Some highlights from the research out of IBM's Institute for Business Value (presented in a recent episode of our show) on the serious advantages that exist for fast-moving CSPs in the current market. Find the research report from IBM Institute for Business Value here: The end of communications services as we know them, focused on how 5G and edge will help define who wins in the booming digital economy
• The strategic impact on the overall Open RAN market segment of Altiostar agreeing to merge with Rakuten to lock-in its long-term competitiveness. As an independent Open RAN supplier, Altiostar was more vulnerable to any delays in CSP deployment of Open RAN technology as well as increasing pressure from incumbent RAN players, such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, increasing their targeting of the Open RAN space.
• How the Rakuten acquisition of Altiostar epitomizes the approach many CSPs should adopt, which is the strategic acquisition of telco-specific and cloud-specific software assets.
• The market significance of Rakuten and 1&1 AG partnering to build Germany's fourth mobile network based on a fully virtualized mobile network using Open RAN technology.
• Why the formation of the Rakuten Symphony unit, combining Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), Open RAN software, and Rakuten's international telco solutions, can accelerate ecosystem adoption of Open RAN and Open 5G technology.