Japanese telecom service provider Rakuten Mobile said that there might be a possibility of technical collaboration with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio for developing network technologies in the 5G domain.
The telecom operator also wants to work with Indian IT service providers in order to develop a complete supply chain for the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP), which the company aims to offer to global telecom operators, including Indian telecom operators.
“I find similarities between both the organizations (Reliance Industries Limited and Rakuten) in many different ways. Both have charismatic chairmen and their hunger and vision for what they want to do not just locally and globally is unbelievable,” Rakuten Mobile CTO Tareq Amin told the Economic Times in an interaction.
“They share similar beliefs. I always believe competition is a very healthy thing for everybody. But I also believe collaboration is very much possible,” he added.
Notably, the Japanese telecom giant has developed its own platform, Rakuten Cloud Platform (RCP) that comprises over 70 platforms through partners.
On the other hand, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited has also claimed that it has built its end-to-end 5G network stack which it intends to offer to global telcos after deploying in India across all circles.
Rakuten has been one of the most vocal supporters of OpenRAN technology. Jio is also likely to leverage the same technology for its own 5G telecom equipment and solutions in the South Asian nation.
Amin said that it is not possible to make everything internally or have skill sets that cover everything ends to end. So, there could be potentially a model in which collaboration is very much possible amongst operators.