On Monday, telecommunications service provider Etisalat announced, it has inked a partnership with Rakuten Mobile, to develop a blueprint for mobile broadband networks and Open RAN technology based on Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP).

Under this agreement, the two companies will jointly develop a orientation design for the mobile operator’s customers across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia regions based on open standards and a cloud-native, software-centric, and fully virtualized and containerized platform.

Tareq Amin, Representative Director, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Rakuten Mobile, states, “We’re excited to work with Etisalat to build a new generation of telecom infrastructure based on the Rakuten Communications Platform which will bring cost-effective mobile services to their customers across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.”

Hatem Bamatraf, Chief Technology Officer, Etisalat International, states, “This is a unique opportunity for Etisalat and Rakuten Mobile to co-explore and further develop next-generation mobile networks based on RCP that will allow Etisalat to leverage a cost-effective, cloud-native, Open RAN based mobile network architecture that is secure, scalable and reliable.”