An outside observer might conclude that the Open RAN standardization and compliance field was already covered between the O-RAN Alliance, the 3GPP, and Telecom Infra Project (TIP), alongside various other bit-part players. Japan’s electronics, ceramics and semiconductor group Kyocera has other ideas, having just launched the Open Radio Unit (O-RU) Alliance, focusing intently on interoperability among the three classes of Open RAN unit. It was then the combined efforts of 3GPP and the O-RAN Alliance that made Open RAN what it is, giving MNOs various options for splitting the RAN and selecting vendors accordingly, even if in practice these capabilities have yet to be exploited much. That is largely because standardization is only part of the equation, with certification and interoperability testing…