Earlier this week, Qualcomm announced new chipsets for Virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN) and open networks, adding to its existing small cell chipset product line (Qualcomm 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) for small cells). Specifically, the announcement focused on the following domains:
The Qualcomm...
Building out a wireless network is expensive, and most of the CAPEX is related to the radio access network (RAN) segment, reaching as high as 80% of total network cost.
For decades, operators have been “locked in” to legacy RAN vendors, like Huawei, Ericsson and...
This trend of disaggregation, virtualization and commoditization has implications beyond just Open RAN. 5G was intentionally designed to be flexible and adaptable. As such, the networks have to mirror that as does the way services are developed and deployed.
“If you really want to deliver...
Open RAN Policy Coalition
In May this year, the Open RAN Policy Coalition was established to advocate for “vendor choice and flexibility in next-generation network deployments,” as Executive Director Diane Rinaldo put it at the time. This is necessary, she said, “from a security and...
Like most things telecom, Open RAN brings with it a complex alphabet soup of acronyms and initialisms. Here we’re providing brief explanations of some key terminology. And, to be sure, this is a superficial description of the following terms and a fraction of the...
Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo and compatriot firm NEC announced that they have expanded multi-vendor interoperability by interconnecting a new 5G base station baseband unit (5G-CU/DU), developed by NEC and Samsung Electronics and compliant with O-RAN Alliance specifications, with 5G base station remote radio units...
ip.access brings 2G, 3G support to Mavenir's Open RAN offering
Open RAN continues to gain momentum globally, although the primary proof points have been greenfield network builds like Rakuten Mobile's in Japan, which is up and running LTE services, and DISH's under construction 5G standalone...
While the benefits of Open RAN (advantageous network economics and deployment flexibility
chief among them) are widely touted, there are also well-articulated issues associated with the technology.
One question is whether operators are trading reduced capex related to RAN infrastructure for increased integration costs as someone...
Let’s frame the Open RAN value proposition to better understand the benefits of disaggregating radio hardware and software, trading single-purpose equipment for general-purpose hardware and moving vital network functions into the cloud. First and foremost, network economics need to change; for 5G, and LTE,...
The true benefits of 5G will be realized with massive scale, something that operators will have to pay mightily to achieve. In carrier-led effort to shift network economics in their favor, the open RAN ecosystem has flourished in recent years and is poised for...
Last week the U.S. Federal Communications Commission brought together a variety of Open RAN stakeholders for its Forum on 5G Open Radio Access Networks. While greenfield operators like DISH and Rakuten Mobile seemed steadfast in their conviction that Open RAN was ready to go...
Xilinx previously tapped by Telefónica in its push for massive Open RAN deployments
This week San Jose-based Xilinx announced it's shipping a T1 Telco Accelerator Card designed for 5G Open RAN networks with a specific focus on simplifying Open RAN fronthaul termination at an open...
Partnership includes Open RAN and a drive toward advanced network automation
As it continues to pursue integration of Open RAN technologies into its multi-national network footprint, Telefónica Global CTIO Enrique Blanco and Rakuten Mobile CTO and CAO Tareq Amin discussed a newly announced partnership that...
It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention. But it should not mean intervention. Such is potentially the case with the proposed effort called Open RAN or O-RAN, which offers software solutions to telecommunication networks but shouldn’t be considered a panacea to relieve...
Speaking during IFA, Qualcomm President discusses the company's role in the RAN
Open RAN is having a big impact on the telecom space with major operators around the world embracing disaggregation of radio access network (RAN) hardware and software. The idea is to give operators...
The OpenRAN 4G site will extend mobile services to rural communities
Vodafone UK has switched on an OpenRAN 4G site around the Royal Welsh Showground in Powys, Wales with support from Mavenir. The plan is to use OpenRAN to more cost-effectively extend 4G services to...
Mavenir worked with Vodafone UK to bring Open RAN site in Wales on-air
Vodafone has made clear it expects Open RAN technologies to play a big role across its multi-national network footprint. In its U.K. market, the operator recently said it has brought live a...
History
The DevOps movement inspired large, enterprise organizations with agile practices to allow developers to make quick changes, but it was very difficult to get full benefit, as their legacy development process was not designed for supporting short software development delivery cycles and frequent production...
In recent months, the telecommunications industry has been abuzz with news about various initiatives related to Open RAN. Essentially, Open RAN refers to open and interoperable interfaces within and between the various subcomponents of the RAN: the radio, hardware, or baseband unit and software....
History
Most of the CAPEX required to build a wireless network is related to the RAN segment, reaching as high as 80% of the total network cost. Any reduction in the RAN equipment cost will significantly help the bottom line of wireless operators as they...
In my previous blog, I covered the promise and potential of network slicing. Another deployment use case which has seen tremendous interest and demand is the use of private networks. With the increasing digital connectivity of devices and equipment across different industry verticals and...
History
In 2G and 3G, the mobile architectures had controllers that were responsible for RAN orchestration and management. With 4G, overall network architecture became flatter and the expectation was that, to enable optimal subscriber experience, base stations would use the X2 interface to communicate with...
According to Cellwize, 5G networks should be born automated
Cellwize, a network automation and orchestration company, worked with Verizon to develop Chime, an AI-powered RAN automation platform that provides an open, centralized layer that enables an orchestrated ecosystem of automation, allowing MNOs to manage and...
In my last blog, we briefly touched upon the advanced use cases that are possible in 5G. One such use case is Network Slicing. 5G cellular services should broadly support use cases including enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) and Massive Internet...
History
Software has been “eating the world” for a while now: from consumer, then enterprise and now the telecom value chains. Open RAN is a great example of how software is “eating” telco. What we have learned from the data center approach is that after...
