NEC and ADI have teamed up to design a 5G Network Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit for Rakuten Mobile.

The radio unit adopts ADI’s wideband RF transceiver to achieve Massive MIMO and possesses a 5G open vRAN interface corresponding to Rakuten Mobile’s virtualized cloud-native mobile network.

It uses 3.7GHz frequency Massive MIMO and digital beamforming technology.

The cloud-native virtual network heralds shift in how communications providers can offer high-speed internet access worldwide, at significantly lower costs, made possible without the maintenance, upkeep, repair and labor costs associated with the physical infrastructure that hinders conventional networks.

NEC has already started shipping the 5G Network Massive MIMO Antenna Radio Unit to Rakuten Mobile.