Building on their existing relationship which has seen Rakuten Mobile use Altiostar virtualized RAN software in its greenfield Japanese network, as well as inclusion in the company’s Rakuten Communications Platform offering, parent company Rakuten Group today announced it will acquire U.S.-based Altiostar at a valuation of $1 billion.
Altiostar focused on vRAN and Open RAN software for 4G and 5G networks. Rakuten worked with Altiostar to build its network in Japan and tapped the company to participate in Rakuten Communications Platform, a bundle of cloud-native network blueprints with interoperable, multi-vendor kit and other professional services. In May 2019, Rakuten invested in Altiostar; other investors include Qualcomm, Telefonica’s venture arm, Tech Mahindra, Cisco and others.
