As more operators embark on trials or limited deployments of Open RAN, inevitably a more realistic tone is entering conversations about the fledgling technology, with a careful balancing of the opportunities with the potential drawbacks. A particularly downbeat assessment comes in a new report commissioned from analysts at CCS Insight by cellular intellectual property firm InterDigital, entitled ‘Open RAN: the long journey from supporting act to lead role’. “Open RAN remains at an early stage of development and, given the time needed to evolve into a more integrated ecosystem of solutions, will probably play no more than a supporting role in global 5G deployments,” said report author Kester Mann, who sees Open RAN becoming a default option only in the…