What they needed were tools for testing and validation to speed up the roll-out of 5G services to subscribers.

Rakuten Mobile, a group company of Rakuten, Inc., is currently building a 5G-ready fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network.

In order to roll out a new 5G infrastructure, the company needed to improve the efficiency of their test and validation processes which are critical to the delivery of high-performance end-user-experiences.

Also, to efficiently validate 5G devices and network infrastructure—end-to-end—in over-the-air (OTA) test environments, Rakuten Mobile needed a solution suite that provides access to a comprehensive set of test cases validated by the Global Certification Forum (GCF). This would enable the mobile operator to accelerate protocol- and radio frequency (RF)- device acceptance according to the 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) standard.

They finally chose Keysight Technologies, Inc. to facilitate this critical project. Said Tareq Amin, representative director, Executive VP and CTO of Rakuten Mobile, Inc.: “We are excited to partner with world-class companies such as Keysight as we push the boundaries of technology to redefine the way mobile networks are designed. Keysight’s technologies and experience will allow us to provide high quality and highly resilient mobile 5G experiences to our users.”

Keysight’s suite of 5G network and channel emulation solutions, including the company’s recently launched 5G Device Benchmarking Toolset, are envisioned to enable Rakuten Mobile to efficiently validate 5G devices and network infrastructure and obtain compliance certification for the 3GPP 5G NR standard.

Said Satish Dhanasekaran, Senior Vice President and President of Keysight’s communications solutions group: “Collaborations that support breakthrough technology are at the core of enabling ecosystems to accelerate innovation. We are pleased to partner with Rakuten Mobile to extend our 5G platform to support their strategic goals of building a more connected future.”