The new infrastructure will give customers access to a highly responsive network bolstering innovation and increasing industrial efficiency.
Open RAN unlike traditional single-supplier mobile sites, enables operators to use software and hardware from a range of vendors, which in turn fosters greater innovation and improved energy efficiency.
In Romania, Vodafone is working with several partners, including Samsung for 2G, 4G and 5G radio and baseband units, Dell PowerEdge servers designed for cloud-based Open RAN workloads from Dell Technologies, and Containers as a Service (CaaS) software from Wind River.
The news follows the successful tests Vodafone started with Samsung and other partners last year in Romania. It also builds on other European trials and Vodafone’s commercial rollout of Open RAN to 2,500 sites in the UK, which started in August 2023.
“The momentum behind Open RAN technologies is building, in Vodafone and amongst our partners, as we focus on enhancing the customer experience,” said Alberto Ripepi, chief network officer at Vodafone.
“As new technologies like generative AI take root and are embedded within businesses, factories, and every day online interactions, they will require intelligence-based networks powerful enough to support them. Open RAN is designed to do just that.”
The deployment in Romania will cover urban cities that will eventually allow operators to reduce costs by sharing all hardware components while independently managing their own RAN software on a common cloud infrastructure.
As a result, each company can tailor services and capacity to their specific customer needs, while ensuring each operator’s data is securely isolated.
Open RAN’s advanced flexibility will allow customers to take full advantage of 5G Standalone (5GSA), which upgrades the telecoms network core as well as the radio antennas.