A club comprising Europe’s big five MNOs has issued a fourth annual release of its technical wish list for Open RAN, having kicked off with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2021. The main focus this time is on service management and orchestration (SMO), including the non-real time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). The quintet, initially comprising Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone, before later being joined by Italy’s TIM, highlighted concerns over three SMO-related aspects, incorporation of machine learning models, integration of legacy radio equipment, and support for dynamic network slicing. The continuing evolution of this manifesto for Open RAN highlights how it is still work in progress and why some operators are tardy about its deployment, especially in its full…