Japanese internet services giant Rakuten has selected network testing vendor Viavi to support the company's plans of becoming the market's fourth mobile operator.
Rakuten has announced that it will use Viavi's TM500 test system to support the rapid deployment of its planned nationwide cloud-native mobile network.
Rakuten secured approval in April last year to deploy 4G mobile services on the 1.7-GHz frequency band. Subsidiary Rakuten Mobile Network is targeting a commercial launch in October 2019.
The operator plans to use the TM500 for user equipment simulation testing under conditions designed to simulate and stress the network from end to end, in order to validate network performance as it will be experienced by end-users.
"Consumers across Japan trust Rakuten for services throughout their daily lives, from e-commerce to fintech to digital content, and we are immensely excited to prepare to deliver a new mobile network service to them this year, with the support of world-class technology partners such as Viavi," Rakuten Mobile Network CTO Tareq Amin said.
"As we aim to realize our vision for the world's first end-to-end cloud-native, nationwide mobile network, Viavi's knowhow and expertise in network testing will be key to building a high-quality, highly resilient network for our customers."