Rakuten Symphony and MobiFone to test and deploy 4G/5G Open RAN in Vietnam.

Rakuten Symphony, a telecommunications subsidiary of Rakuten Group, and MobiFone, a state-owned telecommunications company in Vietnam, announced on June 4, 2025, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the trial deployment of 4G/5G Open RAN in Vietnam. MobiFone will be one of the first telecom operators in Southeast Asia to deploy Open RAN.

For this pilot deployment, Rakuten Symphony will provide the Open RAN solution and technical support in collaboration with ecosystem partners. MobiFone, meanwhile, will provide the necessary base stations and core network infrastructure.

MobiFone Vice President Vinh Tuan Bao characterized Open RAN as "a strategic path to gradually establish technological autonomy in next-generation mobile networks" and commented, "This partnership is more than a proof of concept; it is a milestone for deeper and more comprehensive collaboration in the near future. This partnership is more than a proof of concept, but a milestone for deeper and more comprehensive collaboration in the near future.

In late May, Rakuten Symphony also announced cooperation with local telecom operator Zain Kuwait in the trial deployment of a cloud-native Open RAN network in Kuwait. The company is also working with Now Telecom, a Philippine telecom operator, on a 5G Open RAN trial deployment.

Materials

• Rakuten Symphony and MobiFone to Deploy Open RAN in Vietnam
• Rakuten Symphony, MobiFone to trial O-RAN in Vietnam
• MobiFone taps Rakuten Symphony for open RAN pilot