Following trials earlier this year, and a pilot in Sicily, Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) plans to deploy virtualized RAN in other parts of Italy this year. While many operators have engaged in R&D and limited trials of vRAN, for most, virtualization plans are focused, in the near term, on other parts of the network such as the packet core or CPE. However, cheerleaders like China Mobile, and even former skeptics like Verizon, are increasingly interested in introducing elements of vRAN to their existing networks to increase resource flexibility and reduce the cost of expanding capacity and coverage. In many cases, this will start in a discrete part of the RAN, such as a small cell layer or an in-building network.…