Salam and Rakuten Symphony today announced the signing of a strategic alliance framework agreement that will see Rakuten Symphony provide Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) and network planning, implementation and operation services to the Saudi-based telco (Salam). 
This strategic alliance lays the foundations for Rakuten Symphony to provide its innovative and state-of-the-art software, hardware, service delivery platforms and managed services in mutually agreed growth areas including but not limited to e-commerce, fintech, online and mobile banking, gaming, streaming, digital content, OTT platform, the metaverse, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
Rakuten Symphony will provide Salam with platforms, expertise and services relating to 4G and 5G Open RAN technology and will support its growth opportunities in Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region.
The signing was honored by the attendance of Eng. Bassam Al-Bassam, Deputy Minister, Telecom & Infrastructure, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Saudi Arabia, ensuring the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be a leading country in adopting and developing advanced technologies under the objectives of the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030.
Ahmed Al-Anqari, CEO, Salam, said: “Our strategic alliance with Rakuten will power Salam’s ambition to transform our existing mobile offering with richer customer experiences and unlock new possibilities for Saudi Arabia’s digital generation in support of the Kingdom’s digital transformation journey.”
“We are very excited to collaborate with Salam and share our expertise in Open RAN, mobile and digital value-added services,” said Tareq Amin, CEO of Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Symphony. “We believe that Rakuten Symphony’s network automation and orchestration solutions can empower Salam to innovate in and diversify its mobile network services.”
Rakuten Symphony assists telcos worldwide with the deployment of fully cloud-native network services based on open standards and advanced automation and orchestration, enabling companies to easily build secure and open mobile networks at high speed and low cost.
Salam is a leading telecommunications company based in Saudi Arabia offering next-generation ICT solutions for broadband, connectivity, cloud computing, managed services, security services, satellite services and Internet services for government, businesses, wholesale and consumer sectors.
The two companies plan to make more announcements on the progress and accomplishments of the alliance.
