Japanese news company Asia Nikkei has reported that Orex Sai, a joint venture between Japan’s NTT Docomo and NEC, is to sign a $200 million deal to provide equipment to Indonesian operator Solusi Sinergi Digital, better known as Surge.
Orex Sai is a business NTT DOCOMO set up with NEC to sell multi-vendor Open RAN-based solutions, based on commercially-deployable blueprints. Its aim is to commercialise the technology stacks used by NTT DOCOMO in its own network, solving integration issues for operators attracted to Open RAN solutions. It can also act as an international sales vehicle for technology from Japanese companies NEC and Fujitsu – the former especially has struggled to break non-Japanese markets.
In March 2025 Orex Sai said that it had signed an agreement with Indonesian operator Surge to collaborate on providing broadband access via 5G FWA to up to 40 million households.
A report this week said that that Surge plans to invest $3 billion over nine years in the project with Orex Sai aiming to secure orders worth $1 billion in the future.
Orex told TMN in November 2024 that Southeast Asia offered the company several potential market entry points, especially in markets that are ambivalent about giving Huawei too much market share. As well as Indonesia, Orex had trial agreements in place in Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, and The Philippines.
This week’s Nikkei report said that there are efforts in Tokyo to support Japanese companies in overseas expansion, including via subsidies. It said, “The Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japan’s ICT and Postal Services are considering providing loans to local companies ordering telecommunications infrastructure. The institutions are also weighing investing in Orex Sai’s local subsidiary.”
