Vodafone and Orange have successfully completed the first-ever 4G calls over a shared pilot network in rural Romania, near Bucharest, utilizing cutting-edge Open RAN technology. This marks a significant milestone in the development and deployment of Open RAN, which promises to revolutionize the wireless industry by enabling more flexibility, innovation, and cost-efficiency.
Open RAN stands for Open Radio Access Network, and it refers to a set of open and interoperable standards that allow different vendors to provide hardware and software components for the radio access network (RAN). The RAN is the part of the mobile network that connects users’ devices to the core network via radio waves. Traditionally, the RAN has been dominated by a few vendors that offer proprietary and integrated solutions, limiting the choice and competition in the market.
Open RAN technology decouples software and hardware functionalities, making the RAN more modular and adaptable. This enables mobile base stations to be upgraded with new features and services remotely, quickly and more cost effectively, reducing the need for site visits thanks to greater network automation. It also allows operators to mix and match different vendors’ products, creating a more diverse and competitive ecosystem.
In the context of RAN sharing, Open RAN is a game-changer, allowing each operator to operate their own virtualized RAN software on a shared cloud infrastructure, boosting autonomy and differentiation while optimizing network costs. RAN sharing is a common practice among operators to expand their coverage and capacity in rural areas, where building and maintaining separate networks is not economically viable.
Building on their experiences in the UK and France, Vodafone and Orange have utilized a state-of-the-art stack on their shared sites in Romania, including a Samsung commercial virtualized RAN solution, Wind River abstraction layer, and Dell PowerEdge servers. During this pivotal pilot, Vodafone and Orange collaborated with handpicked vendor partners to showcase the benefits of a virtualized radio access network based on Open RAN standardized interfaces, including the ability to make remote software changes.
The successful 4G calls demonstrate that Open RAN can deliver high-quality voice and data services over a shared network infrastructure. The pilot also paves the way for future 5G deployments using Open RAN technology, which can support more advanced applications and use cases that require ultra-low latency, high reliability, and massive connectivity.
Vodafone and Orange are not the only operators that are embracing Open RAN. According to a report by Deloitte, more than 35 operators worldwide have publicly committed to deploying Open RAN in their networks. Some of the leading examples are:
- Rakuten Mobile in Japan, which launched the world’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network based on Open RAN in 2020.
- Dish Network in the US, which is building a greenfield 5G network using Open RAN architecture and partnering with multiple vendors such as Mavenir, Altiostar, Fujitsu, AWS, Nokia, and VMware.
- Telefonica in Germany, which plans to roll out Open RAN across its entire footprint by 2025.
- MTN Group in Africa, which aims to deploy Open RAN across its 21 markets by 2025.
While Open RAN is gaining momentum worldwide, some operators remain skeptical—it offers many benefits, but the technology is still maturing, and there remain significant engineering and integration challenges. Open RAN also faces challenges in reaching performance parity with traditional systems, although that gap is rapidly closing.
To overcome these challenges and accelerate the adoption of Open RAN, operators need to collaborate with each other and with other stakeholders such as vendors, regulators, industry associations, and research institutions. Some of the initiatives that are promoting such collaboration are:
- The O-RAN Alliance, which is an industry consortium that develops open and intelligent RAN specifications and standards.
- The Telecom Infra Project (TIP), which is a global community that fosters innovation and collaboration in telecom infrastructure.
- The Open Test and Integration Center (OTIC), which is a network of labs that provide testing and validation services for Open RAN solutions.
- The OpenRANGE program, which is a joint effort by Vodafone and Qualcomm to develop reference designs for Open RAN hardware platforms.
Open RAN is not just a technical evolution; it is a strategic transformation that can reshape the wireless industry for the better. By enabling more choice, competition, innovation, and efficiency in the RAN market, Open RAN can benefit operators, vendors, consumers, and society at large. Vodafone and Orange’s pilot in Romania is an important step forward in this direction.
