E - commerce giant - turned - wireless operator Rakuten has tapped Japanese company NEC , rather than China 's Huawei , to install around 16,000 low - cost 5 ##G base stations , aiming for full network installation by 2024 . The companies will develop a low - cost 5 G antenna running on internet - provided software , significantly reducing costs and potentially accelerating roll - out . Rakuten will enter Japan's mobile phone market in October with 4G service and looks to debut 5G service in June 2020, touting low costs to pull customers away from Docomo, KDDI and Rakuten 's system costs [UNK] m ( $ 76,000 ) per unit , a fraction of NTT Docomo 's price . The collaboration also offers a big opportunity to NEC , which had fallen down the ranks of global network equipment suppliers .
E - commerce giant - turned - wireless operator Rakuten has tapped Japanese company NEC , rather than China 's Huawei , to install around 16,000 low - cost 5 ##G base stations , aiming for full network installation by 2024 . The companies will develop a low - cost 5 G antenna running on internet - provided software , significantly reducing costs and potentially accelerating roll - out . Rakuten 's system costs [UNK] m ( $ 76,000 ) per unit , a fraction of NTT Docomo 's price . The collaboration also offers a big opportunity to NEC , which had fallen down the ranks of global network equipment suppliers .