Veon signed an agreement with Rakuten Symphony to explore the reconstruction of Ukraine’s telecoms infrastructure through investment in digital services and open RAN, as part of a wider effort to repair damage caused by the country’s ongoing war with Russia.

The companies stated they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) committing to set up a solid network infrastructure targeting the launch of future 5G services and support the recovery of the country’s digital landscape.

These efforts will back the Ukraine’s government’s initiative to rebuild the country’s infrastructure and the partnership follows a wider recovery effort by Veon.

The operator recently announced a $600 million investment to boost digital technology and speed up 5G roll-out through its Ukraine’s subsidiary Kyivstar.

Veon branded Rakuten Symphony’s Open RAN technologies as a “compelling choice” for its future 5G roll out, pointing to the Japanese company’s cloud-native mobile network.

It further explained Rakuten’s focus on the digital and apps ecosystem aligns with Kyivstar, which has a portfolio of services spanning digital health, entertainment to education.

There is also a plan for the companies to explore business opportunities in Veon’s other markets.

In a previous show of commitment to Ukraine, Veon has moved to sell its operations in Russia, cutting ties with the country following the conflict.

OpenAI deal
Rakuten Group also signed a separate MoU with Microsoft-backed OpenAI to deliver AI services to its consumers and business clients.

The partnership will see Rakuten integrate AI services into its products, while OpenAI will provide the company with priority access and support for its APIs to explore beneficial commercial opportunities and new use cases.