Axiata Group Bhd. has conducted the first trials of Open RAN field pilots in select areas in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
The Malaysian telecom giant is seeking to lead commercial Open RAN technology in the region. The technology will bring significant improvement in 2G and 4G broadband connectivity and bridge the digital divide.
Axiata, which is also the parent company of Ncell, has tied Mavenir and Parallel Wireless as strategic partners and Infosys as system integrators to expand O-RAN across its markets in Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
Open RAN performs disaggregation of the RAN hardware and software and divides it into three blocks; Radio Unit (RU), Distributed Unit (DU), and Centralized Unit (CU). This allows telcos to use hardware from a vendor (of their choice) and software from different vendors, without the traditional proprietary interfaces. In short, it is an open interface and also gives telecom operators the liberty to add more features and services, quickly based on the requirements.
Open RAN gives telcos more authority and freedom to integrate the latest innovations and bump their efficiencies. This is why Open RAN is going to be the leading standard for the telecom industry in the coming days.
Group executive vice-president (technology) Thomas Hundt emphasized the essence of Open RAN for 4G expansions and called it “the future for mobile networks”. He added that Axiata would soon adopt it for 5G too.
“Aligning with our vision to become ‘The Next Generation Digital Champion’, the benefits from open networks will enable Axiata to better serve rising connectivity needs across the region, especially in rural and under-served areas, whilst ensuring sustainable value creation for our stakeholders.
Together with our partners Mavenir, Parallel Wireless, and Infosys, and in line with the global connectivity push under the Telecom Infrastructure Project (TIP), Axiata is committed to embracing fully automated infrastructure to boost the open network’s ecosystem in Asia,” he elaborated.
Hundt said that Axiata deployed the MAVair Open vRAN solution that included all G Open RAN, Packet core, and Mobile Network applications in select regions in three countries. He said Open RAN will soon become a commercial mainstream in the Asian region, especially in emerging markets.
Source: https://www.nepalitelecom.com/2021/07/axiata-trials-open-ran-in-emerging-markets-asia.html