11552 search results for Open RAN

Dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) is an important element in the Release 15 5G standards, because it makes it easier and cheaper for operators to deploy 5G base stations within 4G networks, upgrading their capabilities and use cases before they need to migrate from the LTE core. DSS enables MNOs to transform 4G base stations via a software upgrade to become hybrid 4G/5G base stations supported by a common LTE core. Users of DSS-capable 5G NR devices can then access 5G services where they are available, while the MNO can allocate its existing spectrum flexibly across many bands, dynamically switching between LTE and 5G based on traffic demand. Qualcomm has announced an extended partnership with testing company Keysight to help accelerate…

Japan has not been in the first wave of commercial 5G nations, by contrast with previous network generations, but its operators are pursuing innovative approaches to their build-outs, and driving the shift towards open, multivendor and cloud-based networks. Rakuten, the new entrant, is famously deploying a cloud-native RAN and core for 4G and 5G, while NTT Docomo recently switched on its first RAN (pre-commercial as yet) based on Open RAN interfaces. Softbank – always a pioneer of small cells and other creative approaches to 4G roll-out and economics – is now far more than an operator, as its parent group increasingly invests, through the Vision Fund, in many of the technologies, such as AI and quantum computing, which may drive…

For the vast majority of operators, deploying a fully open and virtualized RAN remains a distant prospect because the technologies are so immature and the specifications scarcely agreed. But a few frontrunners are starting to make significant breakthroughs which could inject confidence into the wider market. Many of the early efforts focus not on the virtualized base station itself but on the cell site gateway, which sits at the base station site to enable functions such as backhaul and timing/synchronization. While the Linux Foundation’s ORAN Alliance is driving common interfaces for the disaggregated RAN – as deployed pre-commercially by Japan’s NTT Docomo in Tokyo – the other most significant open network initiative, Telecom Infra Project (TIP), is leading the charge…

AT&T has embraced the open, virtualized networking idea so wholeheartedly that it has been contributing many of its internal developments into open source efforts, in a bid to drive wide-scale operator support for commoditized white box hardware running network functions in software. The aim is to ensure that the new economics of these open networks do not just deliver savings and agility for one operator, but are extended through the entire supply chain. Among many open initiatives, AT&T has been an originator of ONAP (Open Network Automation Protocol), Open RAN, and Akraino Edge Stack, all housed by the Linux Foundation. It has also contributed developments to Facebook’s Open Compute Project (OCP), which aims to establish commodity economics in the server…

Operators round the world watch India’s Reliance Jio with a mixture of envy and fear, because of the way the new mobile entrant has disrupted the market in less than three years of commercial services. First its low cost 4G-only services, underpinned by a low cost, greenfield network, sparked a price war and a wave of mergers and acquisitions among established MNOs. Next, it overtook first Bharti Airtel, and then Vodafone Idea, to become India’s largest mobile operator by subscriber numbers. Most immediately, its success has been driven by its low tariffs and strong marketing. But playing the price war card can result in a Pyrrhic victory if success comes at the cost of profitability. So Jio has focused on…

In the age of digital platforms and webscalers, being a telco can be seem unglamorous and old-fashioned – something that is reflected in the lower stock market valuations operators generally achieve compared to digital providers. No wonder, then, that some operators are looking to shed the old image by highlighting their activities in more twenty-first century areas of interest like artificial intelligence (AI) or Internet of Things (IoT). Mobile operators hope 5G will boost their excitement factor among investors and consumers by enabling a far wider range of services and markets than 3G or 4G did. So, Reliance Jio of India repeatedly insists it is not a telco, but a provider of digital services from smart home to content to…

China Mobile is wise to focus on edge and therefore fairly constrained locations for its first steps into network slicing – the allocation of network resources to specific applications or customers. Many of the most-vaunted applications for 5G, especially in Industrial IoT and vehicular services, will not work until there is truly ubiquitous coverage, and that is still years away for all but the smallest, densest countries (such as Singapore). Some 5G industrial applications are clearly localized, such as those for smart cities or a specific manufacturing complex, but many of the services where 5G is most meaningful – as opposed to WiFi or wireline – are inherently mobile and wide area, drawing on the unique qualities of a cellular…

A release that landed on our desk this week tried to push the idea that McDonalds is a leader in EV vehicle charging, becoming Sweden’s leading restaurant chain in providing EV charging. This serves to show the growing variety of competition in the passenger-vehicle fueling market. The fast food chain has been installing EV chargers since 2009 but still only has 55 stations across the country. This accomplishment is far less significant when compared to Sweden’s rapidly expanding EV charging market.  McDonalds makes up just 1% of total Swedish EV charging stations – in 2018, Sweden has something like 5,518 EV charge points with some of these installed outside people’s homes. Another source says there are 3,600 commercial charging stations…

The trend for mobile operators to offload their towers intensifies. Vodafone recently announced plans for an €18.4bn ($20.3bn) spin-off, following the example of MNOs in the USA, China, India and many other markets. Now, Telefónica is pursuing a similar plan, and analysts believe that, if its assets are valued in the same way that Vodafone is claiming for its towers, the Spanish telco could achieve a price of €7.2bn ($7.9bn). Vodafone has argued strongly that mobile infrastructure is very undervalued and that it would expect an enterprise value, for its European assets, of at least 20 times EBITDA – even allowing for some valuation drops if a large number of towers suddenly comes to market. Telefónica is considering “monetization” options…

The latest US tower operator to make moves into the edge computing market is SBA, the  country’s third largest towerco. While Crown Castle, the second towerco, has already made significant investments in adding neutral host micro-data centers to its tower sites, the market leader, American Tower, has only recently announced its first cautious deployments. SBA is taking a similarly wary approach, but has acquired a data center in Chicago – currently the hotbed of neutral host edge developments in the USA – in order to test and evaluate the edge opportunity. The acquisition – of a center which currently handles highly secure government computing functions – also includes a small loop of fiber in downtown Chicago. CEO Jeffrey Stoops told…

China Mobile is wise to focus on edge and therefore fairly constrained locations for its first steps into slicing (see previous article). Many of the most-vaunted applications for 5G, especially in industrial IoT and vehicular services, will not work until there is truly ubiquitous coverage, and that is still years away for all but the smallest, densest countries (such as Singapore). Some 5G industrial applications are clearly localized, such as those for smart cities or a specific manufacturing complex, but many of the services where 5G is most meaningful – as opposed to WiFi or wireline – are inherently mobile and wide area, drawing on the unique qualities of a cellular network. And even advanced 5G countries, especially large ones…

Telecom Italia (TIM) has been one of the more active MNOs in trialling virtualized RAN (vRAN) architectures in its macro RAN as a precursor to 5G. It has conducted trials with Ericsson, Huawei Nokia and Altiostar at various points in the past and is now reporting encouraging results on the cost side. Lucy Lombardi, Telecom Italia’s SVP of digital and ecosystem innovation, told the 5G Core Summit in Madrid that TIM had saved up to 50% on software resources by using an architecture in which numerous radio/antenna units could share a centralized baseband processor, with the flexibility increased further by virtualizing the baseband functions. Most of the cost savings came from the ability to allocate network resources dynamically to any…

In July, an important step forward was taken to bring old-style and new communities together in enhancing the NFV platform. This was a collaboration between the most traditional of telco alliances, the GSMA, and the main open source player in telecoms, the Linux Foundation and its Networking Fund (LFN- umbrella for many projects including ORAN Alliance). The new partnership was labelled the Common NFVi Telco Taskforce (CNTT) and set itself the aim of defining common NFV infrastructure (NFVi) reference architectures which will be submitted to LFN for testing and verification via its OPNFV (Open Platform for NFV) verification program (OVP). Three months on, the CNTT has announced its first data release, called Botrange, including the common reference model and the…

Breezy statements about the necessity of the multivendor, cloud-native 5G network are a thing of the past. These goals remain central in the discussions of the largest operators, but they are more focused on the huge challenges of moving to reality – while many tier two players are watching from the sidelines, evaluating simpler options, such as cloud-hosted services, that may emerge over the coming years. At the 5G Cloud Summit in Madrid, operators were emphasizing the challenges more than the visions in their roadmaps. Enrique Blanco of Telefónica was grittily determined to move towards a multivendor, microservices platform (see previous item) but clear about the hurdles. Deutsche Telekom’s VP of core network development, Franz Seiser, was similarly realistic, telling…