The latest report from the market research company Omdia said that Omdia noticed that there were some interesting information releases in June that all hinted at the same thing-Japan and Japanese telecom operators are taking action to enter the global 5G equipment market. However, Ramona Zhao, Omdia Asia Pacific Service Provider Market Research Manager, said that despite the ambitious goals set by the Japanese government, there is still doubt whether “Made in Japan” can succeed in the global supplier market.
Japan targets the global telecommunications infrastructure market
Japan is one of the leading telecommunications markets in Asia in the 3G and 4G era. However, Omdia noticed that in terms of the launch of 5G networks in Asia, Japan missed the opportunity to launch commercial services in 2019 and is still lagging behind South Korea and China.
Now, the Japanese government is determined to catch up and occupy a dominant position in the telecommunications market and equipment market. After all, the early development of 5G deployment in South Korea and China relies on the strong support of their domestic suppliers Samsung and Huawei.
In June 2020, the Japanese government announced more details of its “Beyond 5G” strategy, which was launched in May this year. In its “Beyond 5G” strategic document, the Japanese government called for accelerating 5G deployment in Japan. Its goal is to build 210,000 5G service base stations nationwide by the end of fiscal year 2023, which is three times its original plan.
The strategy document also recommends that 6G networks be put into actual use in Japan around 2030 . At the same time, Japan plans to gain approximately 30% of the global 6G infrastructure market (including software) to ensure Japan’s competitiveness in the global 6G service sector.
NTT and Rakuten announce network equipment plans
Although the Japanese government has just set a 6G global infrastructure market share goal-this goal is expected to be achieved in about ten years, Omdia noted that Japanese telecom operators have announced plans to strengthen their activities in the telecom equipment market.
NTT cooperates with NEC through acquisition
In June 2020, NTT and Japanese equipment manufacturer NEC announced that NTT will invest in NEC to jointly develop 5G wireless network technology. NTT will acquire nearly 5% of NEC’s equity, valued at approximately 64.4 billion yen (US$600 million), and become NEC’s third largest shareholder.
NTT and NEC plan to work together to expand their share of the global wireless communication network market and promote cooperation in the development of 5G and future communication technologies.
Rakuten is looking to sell RCP to the global market
Rakuten Mobile (Rakuten Mobile) is a new entrant to the Japanese telecommunications market. The company only began to provide mobile services in April this year. The company announced that it is developing Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP) products, which will target Telecom companies, government agencies, and other corporate customers worldwide.
Rakuten said that RCP includes all elements of the Rakuten Mobile network, including telecommunications applications and software from multiple vendors, OSS and BSS systems for processing customer bills and activation systems, as well as edge computing and virtual network management functions.
It is particularly noteworthy that in June 2020, Rakuten and NEC reached an agreement to jointly develop a containerized SA 5G core network. The containerized 5G core network will play a key role in the global expansion of RCP, because the 5G core network will be provided as an application on the RCP Marketplace, enabling customers to quickly and easily “click, buy and deploy” a completely virtual An integrated SA 5G core network solution.
In addition, in order to support the plan to promote RCP to the international market, Rakuten is setting up overseas offices. In June 2020, Rakuten announced the opening of its international headquarters in Singapore, which will serve as RCP’s R&D center and global sales and marketing hub.
In order to support the global sales and marketing of Rakuten Mobile RCP products, Rakuten also plans to set up a US entity company in California as a hub for its international business expansion in the Americas.
As supply chain concerns intensify, Japanese suppliers are facing new opportunities, but the results remain to be seen
Omdia has noticed that there is some uncertainty in the global 5G equipment market. In mid-July, the United Kingdom imposed a ban on Huawei-banning the country’s operators from purchasing new 5G equipment from Huawei after December 31, 2020, and gradually removing all Huawei from its 5G network by the end of 2027 equipment. According to reports, after banning Huawei, the British government is seeking to introduce Japanese suppliers to participate in the deployment of its 5G network.
However, given the strong competition from the two traditional global suppliers, Ericsson and Nokia, there is still uncertainty about whether Japanese manufacturers (especially Japanese telecom operators) can realize their ambitions.
Rakuten Mobile has announced that due to the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the 5G service originally scheduled to be launched in June 2020 is expected to be postponed by 3 months. Omdia predicts that if Rakuten’s cloud-native 5G network deployment is successful, it will become the most powerful demonstration of RCP cases to its potential global customers.
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