The early operator activities around Open RAN may have been led by the USA and east Asia, but recent momentum has come from the European majors, especially the so-called Gang of Five (Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, TIM and Vodafone). Last week, Telefónica CTO Enrique Blanco increased his target for Open RAN deployment by 2025, from the previously announced 50% of radio sites, to 70%. “We cannot be sitting and waiting. This is not an option. We need to move very fast in trying to change the architecture because it is simpler, faster, better and finally – though this is not our main target – cheaper,” he told journalists. Before the Spain-based company signed January’s memorandum of understanding with the other…