Rakuten, technology partner of German network operator 1&1, announced that the '1&1 O-RAN' is now fully operational, and is Europe's first fully virtualized 5G network based on Open RAN technology. The network, which offered Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) since December 2022, now offers mobile services (eMBB) too. The network is available throughout Germany. Wherever the 1&1 network does not have coverage, customers will be automatically switched to national roaming on the Telefónica network, and from Summer 2024 onwards, to the Vodafone network.
Mavenir, who delivered the core network technology, and Rakuten, who delivered efficient network control of the cloud-native software, are key partners in the 1&1 O-RAN network. Rakuten Symphony, a Rakuten Group company, is responsible for the end-to-end integration of the network.
Ralph Dommermuth, CEO, 1&1 AG
All network functions are located in our private cloud and are controlled by software. This comes mainly from Rakuten and Mavenir. As system integrator, Rakuten also ensures that all network components interact smoothly. In this way, 1&1 benefits from the extensive experience that Rakuten has gained in recent years in operating the world's first Open RAN in Japan. The full functionality of the 1&1 O-RAN is a major milestone in our company's history.
Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO, Rakuten Group
As the first provider in Europe to operate a commercial Open Radio Access Network, 1&1 has created a digital beacon with its innovative mobile network. As end-to-end technology partner for 1&1’s network, Rakuten is delivering the efficient and highly automated control of the antennas in the 1&1 Open RAN. Using our specially developed orchestration software, we serve as system integrator to ensure that core network applications interact seamlessly with all other software and hardware components in the 1&1 O-RAN. We are very proud of the result of our joint work with our partners.
Pardeep Kohli, President and CEO, Mavenir Systems
For the 1&1 O-RAN, Mavenir provides all components in the core network that are required for a state-of-the-art 5G mobile network - cloud-native and interoperable. Our software for the core network runs as container-based microservices on Rakuten Symphony’s platform and serves both fixed wireless access (FWA) and mobile services (eMBB). We congratulate 1&1 on Europe's most advanced mobile network and are proud to be part of this innovation from the beginning,
