UPDATE Vodafone has signed two OEM agreements that will assist it in rolling out Open RAN in Europe and Asia, as well as around the world. Most recently, the carrier signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NTT DOCOMO Inc. last week to harmonize mobile operator system Open RAN integration and test processes.
The cooperation with DOCOMO will drive interoperability between different vendor systems worldwide giving customers seamless service across 4G and 5G Open RAN networks, according to Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone. The uniform approach to testing will also help vendors avoid repetition when dealing with multiple operators.
“Smaller suppliers and startups will particularly benefit by avoiding costly duplicate testing with multiple operators, strengthening diversity in the global supply chain,” Wibergh said.
In addition, Vodafone and DOCOMO plan to cooperate to lower the total cost of ownership for operators by enhancing the efficiency of RAN technologies, integration processes, artificial intelligence/machine learning and automation techniques. As a matter of course, the two companies will connect their existing Open RAN R&D centers in the U.K. and Japan.
“The collective R&D power of Vodafone and DOCOMO will lower the entry barrier for many more companies across Europe and Asia wishing to build Open RAN networks,” Wibergh said. “Rather than fragmenting the industry, Open RAN is bringing us together, across continents, to drive diversification of network equipment vendors and ensure greater systems integration.”
Meanwhile, Vodafone is working with Nokia on a fully compliant Open RAN solution, targeted at the European market. Nokia, the first large Europe-based Open RAN equipment supplier, will help Vodafone meet its target of having 30 percent of its European networks running on Open RAN by 2030.
Early next year, Vodafone and Nokia plan to demonstrate an Open RAN baseband system, which processes customer mobile traffic, using in-line Layer-1 acceleration, in a major step towards wider Open RAN adoption. “This solution will ultimately be deployed together with third party COTS server providers, in accordance with the industry’s vision for an open and secure ecosystem built around the specifications developed by industry body, the ORAN Alliance,” Wibergh said.
The DOCOMO and Nokia announcements build on the release of Vodafone’s plans to conduct a commercial pilot of 5G Open RAN at mobile sites in Germany – its largest European market – starting in early 2023. This will be the first deployment of Open RAN technology in Germany that is fully compliant with the specifications and roadmap adopted by Telecom Infra Project, a global community of companies and organizations that are driving infrastructure solutions to advance global connectivity.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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