The Japanese innovation company Rakuten Group to acquire wireless software Innovator Altiostar for more than $1 billion.
The company’s software supports open interfaces and virtualises the baseband unit to build a disaggregated multi-vendor mobile network, enabling mobile network operators to quickly adapt the network for different services and automate operations to rapidly scale the network and reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Altiostar also supports a diverse Open RAN ecosystem and its O-RAN compliant solution which has been deployed globally, including with Rakuten Mobile in Japan.
The Chief Executive Officer of Rakuten Group, Mickey Mikitani said:
“We’re entering a new era where mobile network operators can choose how to build and deploy a network by working with the world’s most innovative software companies to create open and interoperable solutions,”
“We’re delighted to welcome the Altiostar team to the Rakuten family as we share a common passion for empowering mobile networks through disruptive innovation, offering mobile operators around the world secure, cost-effective and highly agile technology.”
After the approval by the committee on foreign investment in United States the initial investment by Rakuten into Altiostar was completed in 2019.
Rakuten and Altiostar had launched the world’s first container-based, cloud-native 5G radio access network (RAN) in 2020. Altiostar is also improving its global operations with the expansion of its Indian R&D center and UK-based open vRAN engineering lab, as well as the opening of regional hubs close to its customers.
The mobile software company Altiostar has been selected by multiple Mobile Network Operators among which include Dish in the United States Telefonica in Europe and Latam and Airtel in India.
