4 of Europe’s biggest network operators have signed a MoU- commit to the implementation & deployment of Open RAN as the technology of choice for future mobile networks across Europe.
Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Orange & Vodafone pledged to back Open RAN systems that take advantage of new open virtualized architectures, software & hardware -to enhance the flexibility, efficiency & security of European networks in the 5G era.
The 4 operators committed to working together with existing & new ecosystem partners, industry bodies like the O-RAN Alliance & the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), as well as European policy makers, to ensure Open RAN quickly reaches competitive parity with traditional RAN solutions.
Open RAN, virtualisation & automation- pave the way for fundamental change in the way operators manage networks & deliver services, allowing them to add or shift capacity more quickly for end users, automatically resolve network incidents or provide enterprise level services on-demand for industry 4.0
Telefonica -1,000 of its mobile sites in Germany. Vodafone- 2,600 of its masts & rooftops in the UK at the end of last year.
Without orders from numerous large operators, open RAN producers have struggled to increase volumes & generate the necessary economies of scale.
This paper provides an overview of the main technology elements that Telefónica is developing in collaboration with selected partners in the Open RAN ecosystem. It describes the architectural elements, design criteria, technology choices and key chipsets employed to build a complete portfolio of radio units and baseband equipment capable of a full 4G/5G RAN rollout in any market of interest.