ODIN Roundup Week 28 – Open RAN going mainstream; Open Transport and OpenWiFi announcements
This week features a mix of announcements covered by ODIN, stories from Bloomberg, South China Morning Post, Light Reading, Fierce Network, RCR Wireless, Vanilla Plus, a great blog post from AWS outlining their work with EchoStar (who own DISH), some Open Transport, OpenWiFi, and more!
Table of contents:
Open RAN
O-RAN ALLIANCE Announces New Chair
- O-RAN ALLIANCE has announced that Dr. Abdurazak Mudesir, Group CTO of Deutsche Telekom, has been elected as Chair of the Board.
- The organisation was quick to reassure its community that under Dr. Mudesir’s chairmanship, O-RAN ALLIANCE will stay fully committed to its mission.
- The move comes after former O-RAN ALLIANCE Chairman Dr. Alex Jinsung Choi left Deutsche Telekom after seven years at the German operator.
Read the full story from ODIN here.
Open RAN testing capabilities enhanced with new strategic industry collaboration
- Viavi Solutions and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at expanding the testing capabilities of the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR™).
- The strategic collaboration will offer cloud based and virtual testing capabilities critical for modern, scalable network performance assessments.
- VALOR will become the first of TIP’s network of authorised test labs, streamlining the certification process, reducing duplication of efforts, and accelerating the time-to-market for Open RAN solutions.
Read the full story from ODIN here.
Next up two stories that highlight how Open RAN is increasingly moving into mainstream discussions. It’s quite rare for the technology to get mentioned outside of the telecoms trade press but last week two major news outlets published articles on Open RAN. In an added plot twist the articles feature in an American publication (Bloomberg) and a Chinese publication (Hong Kong’s paper of record: South China Morning Post) so we’re getting quite a partisan contrast on the geopolitical front.
How ‘OpenRAN’ Initiative Is Reshaping Mobile Networks from Bloomberg
“For as long as Finland’s Nokia Oyj, Sweden’s Ericsson AB and China’s Huawei Technologies Co. have dominated the market for telecom network equipment, customers have looked for ways to break their hold. Now, wireless operators may get their wish.”
Read the full story here (Bloomberg subscription required)
Philippines eyes Japan to build 5G network amid China’s dominance, cyber fears from South China Morning Post
- Japan is reportedly planning to help the Philippines build an open radio access network ahead of Manila’s 5G deployment.
- The offer is seen to be linked to a proposed agreement that Manila and Tokyo are exploring to permit troops on either side to enter each other’s territory for joint military exercises and enhanced defence cooperation, especially in maritime areas.
- Japan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Yoko Kamikawa is reportedly set to discuss the 5G plan and the finalisation of the bilateral defence pact in the Philippines next month.
Read the full story here.
Last week really was a bumper news week for Open RAN with not one, but two editorials from Open RAN super fan Iain Morris! I think these should be taken with a healthy dose of salt because while they do highlight important issues within the Open RAN movement, they’re not unique to this segment of the industry. That said, it’s good to be reminded of the work that still needs to be carried out before we can call Open RAN a success. In the meantime we patiently await a positive article on Open RAN from from Iain Morris 😅
Open RAN players are in retreat, losing market share last year from Light Reading
- A recent report from Omdia, seized on by Ericsson, is further proof that open RAN is failing to hit its original targets.
- Published in May, and reproduced in full on Ericsson’s website, the Omdia data calculates the market shares held by RAN vendors worldwide.
- Omdia’s data shows the initiative has largely failed to have any impact on the composition of the RAN market.
Read the full story here.
Telco open RAN ‘accelerator’ wish list is from cloud cuckoo land from Light Reading
- Operators want full hardware and software independence and the ability to migrate seamlessly from lookaside to inline.
- Overcoming the resistance of incumbents to this pick-and-mix approach is the familiar challenge.
- But even if this mission were to succeed, it would fall some distance short of the full hardware and software optionality telcos seek.
Read the full story here.
What’s up with AT&T and its multi-vendor open RAN strategy? from Fierce Network
AT&T’s VP of RAN Robert Soni speaking at MWC24 earlier this year
- AT&T insists it’s taking a multi-vendor approach to open RAN.
- Ericsson was slower to the Open RAN party than a lot of other vendors, but now it’s in the driver’s seat at AT&T.
- How many vendors will be in the back of the bus?
Full story here.
Kyivstar expects to phase out Chinese kit in future – from Light Reading
- Kyivstar aims to reduce its reliance on Chinese vendors, seen by many Western countries and observers as a security threat, but the process may be difficult.
- Owned by telecom group VEON, Kyivstar and its local rivals are already under pressure to keep Ukraine connected amid attacks on its infrastructure (both physical and cyber), power cuts and labor shortages.
- Open RAN an option? A potential partnership with Rakuten could offer a path to Open RAN but this is in a very early stage.
Read the full story here.
Indosat to put main focus on 4G expansion: CEO from RCR Wireless
- In an interview with RCR Wireless News, Indosat’s President and CEO, Vikram Sinha said that the telco has alread launched 5G services in eight cities across Indonesia, including Jakarta, Makassar, and Bali.
- Commenting on the telco’s O-RAN strategy, Sinha noted that the company sees this technology as an enabler in its efforts to further expand and strengthen network coverage in rural areas of Indonesia.
- He went on to say that O-RAN also holds great promise for future 5G deployment.
Full story here.
Anritsu and LITEON Technology are collaborating on verifying performance testing for the 5G New Radio (NR) Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) – Press Release
- Anritsu and LITEON Technology are collaborating on verifying performance testing for the 5G New Radio (NR) Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN).
- Anritsu is assisting LITEON in verifying their Open Radio Units (O-RUs) with its MT8000A Radio Communication Test Station and MX773000PC Open Distributed Unit (O-DU) Emulator Platform Software.
- LITEON provides 5G private network products, including Sub-6 GHz O-RUs that comply with O-RAN standards, and has completed integration testing with several commercial DU/CU vendors.
Read the Press Release here.
How EchoStar ingests terabytes of data daily across its 5G Open RAN network in near real-time using Amazon Redshift Serverless Streaming Ingestion – AWS Blogpost
- EchoStar uses Redshift Streaming Ingestion to ingest over 10 TB of data daily from more than 150 MSK topics in near real time across its Open RAN 5G network.
- The bog post provides an overview of real-time data analysis with Amazon Redshift and how EchoStar uses it to ingest hundreds of megabytes per second.
- As data sources and volumes grew across its network, EchoStar migrated from a single Redshift Serverless workgroup to a multi-warehouse architecture with live data sharing. This resulted in improved performance for ingesting and analyzing their rapidly growing data.
Read the Blog Post here.
Open Transport
We missed this story when it was announced a couple of weeks ago but it certainly deserves to have been included!
Pnetworks and IP Infusion sign MoU for disaggregated telecom solutions from Vanilla Plus
- Pnetworks and IP Infusion has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on advancing disaggregated telecom solutions.
- The partnership will combine Pnetworks’ expertise in network infrastructure with IP Infusion’s cutting-edge OcNOS software solutions to drive innovation in the telecommunications industry.
- Pnetworks and IP Infusion will collaborate on the deployment, testing, optimisation and commercialisation of advanced IP networking solutions for the telecom industry.
Read the full story here.
OpenWiFi
Indio Network and BSNL OpenWiFi Deployment Improves Connectivity on Lakshadweep Islands from LinkedIn
- Indio utilized the Kochi-Lakshadweep optical fiber cable installed by BSNL to upgrade the internet infrastructure from cellular to fiber.
- Their comprehensive OpenWiFi solution has ensured fast, reliable WiFi connectivity, resulting in a significant boost to tourism and the local economy.
Read the full post here.
