Open RAN first for Singapore and StarHub, powered by OREX

Singapore based operator StarHub successfully completed its first 5G Open RAN field trial in collaboration with Japanese operator – and Open RAN champion – NTT DOCOMO. During the trial, conducted in its production network, StarHub’s Open RAN achieved downlink speeds of 1.295 Gbps, matching the theoretical speeds of the operator’s 5G SA. The trial also recorded an uplink speed of 73.5 Mbps, consistent with the network’s typical uplink range of 40-90 Mbps, and maintained an average latency of 15 ms.

Marking the first Open RAN deployment in the city state, Ayush Sharma, Chief Technology Officer of StarHub noted the technology offers enterprises “greater value, flexibility and customisability to choose what is best to meet their needs, but also lets us vastly rethink how we approach network infrastructure differently.”

Indeed, one of the key selling points of Open RAN, beyond its ability to customise various components like the radios and base stations, is the possibility to optimise network performance according to user demands through innovative technologies like RAN Intelligent Controllers.

“This opens the door to an infinite number of possibilities in how we build networks around the world”  said Sadayuki Abeta OREX Evangelist and Chief Open RAN Strategist of NTT DOCOMO and Chief Technology Officer of OREX SAI.

The trial is also a first for NTT DOCOMO’s OREX SAI. Launched at MWC24 Barcelona earlier this year as a Joint Venture with NEC and supported by industry partners AWS, Arm, and Marvell, OREX had up until now yet to secure any partnership with other service providers.

In a broader geopolitical context, this announcement aligns with the Japanese government’s goal to promote Open RAN technologies within the region. It also supports the recent commitments from the Quad members — Australia, India, Japan and the USA — who are actively advocating for wider adoption of Open RAN.