Much of the discussion about potential cost savings from virtualized and open RAN centers on capex, and the possible impact of increased competition on equipment and software costs. But the bigger issue is whether the new architectures can reduce the cost of running the network. After all, network opex is as much as 25% higher than network capex on an annual basis and tends to increase over the network’s lifetime of, perhaps, 10 years, as it starts to age. Early indicators from the Open RAN trailblazers such as Rakuten and Dish suggest that, after an initially cost-intensive deployment and integration period, a cloud-based network will enable high levels of automation and a dramatically leaner workforce than in a traditional…