11528 search results for Open RAN

Three has started a small cell Open RAN rollout in central Glasgow, Scotland, the first Open RAN deployment for dense inner-city demands, claims the operator. But to look closer, this is another example of single-vendor Open RAN (see Ericsson-AT&T article) and also a touch of virtue signaling, to win the approval of UK regulators for Three’s intended merger with Vodafone. US vendor and Open RAN specialist Mavenir is the only vendor for the radios and baseband software, making this Open RAN compliant but still a single vendor operation. The radio unit (RU) is installed on the small cell and the central and distributed units are in Three’s local exchanges and data facilities. Small cell specialist and neutral host provider Boldyn…

Verizon held a briefing for sell-side financial analysts, and issued a broader business update, last week. The meetings were short on detail, and did not contain any bold new headlines, but that shouldn’t obscure the progress that the US operator is making. After the missteps of its adventures in media acquisitions, and facing strengthened competition at home amid global economic slowdown, Verizon needs a new story. Its share price fell sharply last year, although its 2023 financial results showed signs of good recovery towards the end of that year. Most of this was based on traditional Verizon strengths, notably a 31% increase in wireless subscribers that was attributed to the quality of its 5G network. But that boost only generated…

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) have been subject to intensive research under the growing conviction they are critical for sustaining promised performance and capacity improvements at higher radio frequencies. Significant commercial deployments are still around five years away, which is why RIS is sometimes conflated with 6G, just as the MIMO and beamforming were associated with 5G even though they were introduced earlier in the LTE era. Yet, RIS is bigger than any ‘G’ and represents the final frontier in taming the RF environment, for more efficient utilization of the potential data carrying capacity available, especially at higher frequencies. Now, operators are being urged to take notice and start preparing for incorporation of RIS into future mobile deployments, whatever number is…

The business model of the large telecom operator is increasingly challenging, and most telcos are looking for new revenue streams to compensate for stagnant or falling ARPU – combined with hefty investments in new networks. A small but growing number are not just eyeing enterprises or acquisitions to boost their finances, but aiming to sell technologies and services to other operators. This is a high-risk option, as the performance of Rakuten Symphony, one of the most prominent examples of the trend, illustrates. Operators may want to reduce their dependence on the large equipment vendors, but they are also wary of disruption to their usual technologies and procurement processes. The relationship with a fellow operator, from another country, will be very…

Bell Canada has partnered with AI research institute Mila to improve business performance and customer experience and accelerate AI innovations using cloud computing. The 18-month collaboration focuses on using neural networks to leverage deep learning algorithms. Bell and Mila will produce a paper highlighting their technical findings. China Mobile has launched two satellites in low earth orbit that will be used to test 5G and 6G architectures, according to Chinese newspapers. The satellite was co-developed by China Mobile and the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was launched alongside another LEO satellite, developed by China Mobile and satellite company Ubinexus, equipped with a land-space 5G operating system.The satellites will be used to test and integrate…

The energy crisis of the past couple of years has put power efficiency at the top of operators’ agendas, especially if they are building high-performance 5G RANs with Massive MIMO. These solutions are power-efficient compared to 4G on a like-for-like basis, but as 5G RANs involve rapidly increasing numbers of base stations and antenna elements, their overall consumption is rising. There are, depending on definitions, around 10 million cell sites globally – with various levels of complexity and equipment requirements. As such, there are both significant risks and opportunities, when it comes to efficiency and generation at a global scale. Operators are turning not just to technology but to new ways of procuring and generating power, in order to reduce…

The newly agreed open fronthaul specification for Open RAN appears to resolve concerns over performance of massive MIMO (mMIMO) – at the expense of restricting diversity of supply. That was, after all, the major motivator for Open RAN in the first place, although in practice, the field was always going to consolidate down to a handful of key vendors, although hopefully not quite as constricted as the traditional RAN supply chain has become. It is certainly true also that concerns over performance of mMIMO under Open RAN had effectively prevented operators deploying it in dense urban environments. This follows the mounting consensus that mMIMO is absolutely critical for the success of 5G NR in those urban settings, by enabling higher…

Deutsche Telekom has appointed Mavenir to modernize its mobile messaging infrastructure in four key markets, as part of its broader network upgrade plans centered on Open RAN. This increases Mavenir’s involvement after being chosen as one of three principle initial partners for Open RAN last year, alongside Fujitsu and Nokia. That contract announced in February 2023 set the stage for Mavenir’s recent award, although the former was initially focused on the Neubrandenburg area of Germany, as a setting for introduction of Open RAN in a brownfield site also receiving 2G and 4G services. Those sites were constructing DT’s first commercial Open RAN network with open fronthaul support, splitting radio and baseband functions from Nokia and Fujitsu. Mavenir was chosen to…

Intel and Samsung, the world’s largest chipmakers, both recorded poor fourth quarter financial results, though with some signs of hope for a recovery in the semiconductor business worldwide from later this year. High inventory levels as a result of global economic downturn and reduced consumer spending affected both giants, particularly Samsung, who operating profit fell by 35% year-on-year to KRW 2.8 trillion ($2.1 billion). That was worse than expected, but was actually the Korean firm’s smallest year-on-year decline in profit for five quarters. With chip prices recovering and inventory levels falling, stock analysts are realistically looking for a better fiscal year ahead for the chip sector. However, there are concerns that some of Intel’s woes are not just down to…

Last week, Wireless Watch joined the UK Telecoms Innovation Network’s (UKTIN) AI conference in London to sort through the furor surrounding artificial intelligence and discuss the tangible security, energy, and commercial implications for wireless networks. It was time to find out whether AI models are a horribly complex exercise for marginal gains, or an imminent necessity to manage increasingly complex networks. The main panel of the event was led with great humor and enthusiasm by Professor Dimitra Simeonidou from the University of Bristol. Simeonidou is the Director of the Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol and the lead of the £12 million REASON research project, part of the UK government’s Open Networks Research and Development Fund. Simeonidou was…