STC and Japan’s Rakuten Mobile have agreed to co-operate on innovation and strategic mobile technology, such as a fully autonomous digital platform serving telecommunication cloud networks, OpenRAN deployment options for greenfield and brownfield use-cases, operating models and business value realisation.
STC and Rakuten Mobile say their aim is to accelerate the delivery of mobile network services through the use of open technology.
“This Memorandum of Understanding aims to expand our global partnerships and help diversify our strategic growth,” said Eng. Nasser S. Al Nasser, Group CEO, STC. “We are confident it will bring tangible results in terms of developing a new advanced technology strategy and accelerating the early deployment of novel and sophisticated services. This is a vital role for us, as we continue with our Digital Transformation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, serving the 2030 vision.”
Mickey Mikitani, Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, said his company were excited to be collaborating with STC and sharing their know-how. “We believe that our open architecture and advanced OpenRAN technologies will help define a new generation of operators who are ideally positioned to place advanced customer experience and differentiated profitable services at the center of their offering,” he said.
STC Group’s 217,000km of fibre optic cable and 2019 revenues of USD14.5 billion, make it one of the world’s largest digital companies and the biggest in the Middle East and North Africa. Its mobile network covers 99% of populated areas in Saudi Arabia and its 4G-based mobile broadband covers about 90% of the population. It is a strong player in IoT, Cloud Computing, information security, AI and Big Data. The signing of this MoU is aligned with STC’s strategic drive for a strong digital future, while augmenting the Digital Transformation strategy of Saudi Arabia.
