NEC Corporation, MTI ink strategic partnership for collaborating on Open RAN

NEC Corporation, an IT and network technologies integrator company, Friday said it has partnered with Microelectronics Technologies Inc. (MTI), a network RF solutions provider, for collaborating on Open Radio Access Network (RAN) to serve global 4G and 5G markets.

Under the agreement, NEC and MTI will jointly supply radio units to market to meet the increasing demand for Open RAN radio, said an official statement. “NEC and MTI will continue to meet the high-quality standards required for Tier-1 operators deploying Open RAN networks across the globe.”

The strategic partnership also seeks to provide a broader Open RAN product offering for telcos and enable use cases ranging from rural to urban areas, with network configurations and performance profiles, such as non and massive MIMO.

The partnership extends NEC’s Open RAN product lineup, addressing a vast market opportunity, the statement added.

Japan-based NEC in May had inked a similar partnership with Rakuten Mobile to provide 4G and 5G radio units and engineering services for Open RAN systems that are aligned with O-RAN specifications for global markets.

“NEC is an industry leader in open and disaggregated networks, demonstrating its capabilities in integrating end-to-end Open RAN solutions,” said Allen Yen, Chairman and CEO of MTI. “MTI is excited to be one of NEC’s strategic partners to jointly address the need for open, high performance, high quality 5G radio products.”

“An open, disaggregated 5G network ecosystem promises to drive transformation throughout the industry,” said Shigeru Okuya, Senior Vice President, NEC Corporation. “With this firm and strategic partnership with MTI, NEC reinforces its commitment to accelerate commercial Open RAN deployments and to deliver more value to its customers.”