Executives share their perspectives on global Open RAN progress at the Connect Expo
Open RAN is not a technology; This is a global concept to ensure interoperability. This will usher in a new level of flexibility, innovation and market competition in the telecom industry. This is how John Baker, VP of Mavenir’s ecosystem business development, identified it during the Connect EXPO panel, designed to question the reality of Open RAN.
“We’re right at the beginning of this journey,” Baker continued, watching activity on almost every continent. Prior to the recent advances in the Dish Network, Europe was leading the way in the Open RAN.
“The UK is taking some very strong initiatives in terms of open RAN formation and ensuring its deployment … for example, more than 35% of UK traffic will be carried on Open RAN equipment in the next five years,” he elaborated.
Five years, though, quotes Gordon Mansfield, VP of mobility and access architecture at AT&T RCR Wireless News, While he expects Open RAN to be a significant part of the carrier’s network. “We’re definitely going there,” he said, adding that today, AT&T already has hardware that, on a scale, is O-RAN capable.
However, Mansfield warned against hyping current O-RAN advances. “You hear people say it’s here today, but not as much as they would like to offer. We have what we call high choreographed RAN, which means that some base bands can work with multiple group RANs. ” Interactivity begins to crumble. ”Until we reach the point where lifecycle upgrades do not affect interoperability.
Andrew Jun, ADRF’s CTO, agrees with Mansfield’s five-year forecast RCR Wireless News Open RAN has been having similar conversations recently with a temporary break on promotion around. Because it is not a promising and exciting venture; Just because it’s complicated.
“O-Run theoretically, really good for everyone,” June said. “It’s much more efficient in terms of cost and everything [and] It provides better performance and flexibility. But the thing is, in order for O-RAN to become mainstream, carriers need to support it very strongly. “
They don’t, though? He said yes, they do, but their deployment is still incredibly limited.
“This is really good for greenfield operators like Rakuten and Dish, who did not have very existing infrastructure, so they may be dedicated to O-RAN, but others do not want to tear down and replace their existing infrastructure,” he explained. “They are only providing O-RAN support on new or specific sites.”
As Mansfield pointed out, June confirms that the integration part is proving to be very challenging, summarizing: “The solution is not mature enough that big carriers can choose O-RAN for the big time right now.”
