Millicom, the international operator that specializes in emerging markets, has made its first efforts to deploy Open RAN, focusing on Latin America. The company, which recently sold its last businesses in Africa, now sees the LATAM region as its chief source of growth and is eager to drive a low cost, flexible architecture that will improve the economics of getting 4G and 5G to underserved communities, while competing effectively with incumbent telcos in the big cities.
Its first deployment of Open RAN will be for rural 4G services in Colombia, and as the platform matures, it aims to extend its roll-out to cities and to other countries in the region. It is working with Parallel Wireless, which already has Open RAN trials and deployments in Latin America, working mainly with Telefónica.
Millicom, which operates under the Tigo brand, will use 700 MHz spectrum and as well as connectivity, aims to provide value added services such as e-learning and mobile banking. It said the network will be planned to be fully O-RAN compliant, with cloud-based basebands, and will be 5G-ready.
Millicom’s CTIO, Xavier Rocoplan, said: “Open RAN not only means connecting more people in rural areas, starting with Colombia, but it’s also an innovative approach to reducing cost, increasing flexibility and efficiency by diversifying our supplier base”.
He added: “We hope to bring this technology to more sites across our Latin American markets, as we fulfil our purpose to build digital highways that connect people, improve lives, and help develop our communities.”