Through proofs of concepts, Vodafone Idea (VI) is investigating virtual RAN (VRAN) from Samsung and Open RAN (ORAN) from Mavenir in its 5G network deployment across India, according to the Economic Times.
Samsung is already working with Vodafone Group on its 5G deployment in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain. VI has been testing Mavenir’s ORAN-based deployments in India carrying commercial traffic since December 2019.
VI has been deploying an array of 5G concepts and technologies such as Massive MIMO, ORAN, Cloudification of core and edge cloud/deployment, according to VI’s 2022-2023 annual report. “[We are] closely watching the development on the 5G front and gearing up to offer 5G services in the near future.”
Well known by analysts for its economic woes, VI is most likely attracted to the cost benefits of VRAN and ORAN technology. ORAN uses disaggregated RAN functionality built using open interface specifications between components. This lowers prices through vendor-neutral hardware and software-defined technology based on open interfaces and community-developed standards.
“The total cost of ownership or deployment capex will likely be lower on VRAN and ORAN as it allows vendor interoperability. Thus, it worked well for VI due to its balance sheet constraints,” Ashwinder Sethi, principal at Analysis Mason, told Economic Times.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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