Rakuten recently launched their long-waited and highly-anticipated 5G network service. Despite a Covid-19 induced delay, Rakuten has managed to put up a 5G network in a very short time. The jury is out as to whether they have succeeded but one thing is for certain, Rakuten has proven that an industry outsider can put up a compelling offering with the help of new cloud-based and open technologies. 

neXt Curve is joined by Foong King Yew, renewed ICT industry analyst and former Gartner research vice president to explore the following topics:

• What is special about Rakuten’s 5G strategy and rollout? – We provide our impressions of the Rakuten 5G network launch event that took place on September 30, just five months after the launch of their first-of-a-kind cloud-native mobile network.
• What’s the big deal about cloud-native and 5G?– Tareq Amin touts that Rakuten’s mobile network is the first fully cloud-native network in the world. We discuss why this is a big deal.
• Is Rakuten Mobile just an MNO or are they more? – Rakuten is widely considered a disruptive player in the mobile wireless industry. We discuss why Rakuten is a big deal and why they are a big deal and why they are more than a traditional MNO.
• •What can traditional operators learn from Rakuten’s 5G? – Is it good for traditional players in the mobile wireless space to emulate Rakuten or is Rakuten more of a portent of things to come, the UTB (Under The Bottom) revolution the will change the ICT universe as we knew it?

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