Rakuten Mobile added Airspan Networks’ virtual radio access network (vRAN) hardware and software platform on the Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP).

The deal will see Airspan include its OpenRANGE platform that is based on the open RAN specifications to the Rakuten platform. Airspan will also work with Rakuten on a go-to-market strategy for RCP and jointly sell the platform with Airspan’s offerings.

Airspan is one of a number of vendors working with Rakuten to power its virtualized mobile network in Japan. Other vendors include Altiostar, Cisco, Intel, Mavenir, NEC, Nokia, Red Hat, and Qualcomm.

Analysts have called out Airspan as being a potential acquisition target for larger vendors looking to get a hook into the burgeoning open RAN space.

Rakuten unveiled its RCP plans late last year. The platform is a combination of the operator’s various technical and intellectual property that it’s using to construct its software-centric network in Japan. It includes telco applications and software from different vendors, operating support and business support systems (OSS/BSS) to deal with billing and activation, edge computing, and virtual network management functions.

Rakuten began demonstrating the RCP platform in August and claims it reduces capex for mobile operators by 40% and opex by 30%. Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, at the time, said the global market for a platform like RCP, including traditional network costs for mobile operators, reaches up to $375 billion annually.

Rakuten last month struck a deal with U.S.-based Ligado Networks to design a private 5G network that uses the Japanese operator’s customizable platform. The deal has the companies initially working to define a strategy that uses the RCP and corresponding ecosystem to support Ligado’s L-Band spectrum holdings in the 1.6 GHz band. That work is set to begin this quarter and will target a 5G private network targeted at enterprise customers.