Internet para Todos Perú (IpT Peru) has partnered with Parallel Wireless to deploy hundreds of programmable virtualised 4G OpenRAN sites for mobile broadband.
IpT Peru launched in May 2019 and is owned by Telefonica, Facebook, IDB Invest and CAF banks. The company aims to provide internet connectivity to users in remote regions of Peru. Traditionally, high investment and operational cost and the deployment complexity of low-density deployments have prevented MNOs from bringing coverage to these areas, while technological evolution has focused on scaling capacity for urban rather than on creating efficient downscaled solutions in areas with lower population.
The sites that IpT Peru has deployed in the market use fully virtualised and automated OpenRAN architecture from Parallel Wireless. The technology brings more flexibility and agility to the deployment and management of access networks, creating a multi-vendor, multi-operator, open ecosystem of interoperable components for the various RAN elements and from different vendors.
All new radio units are self-configured by the software, reducing the need for manual intervention, with automated optimisation across different RANs in IpT Peru’s network. Using all available RAN data from macros and small cells, this creates an open business model where MNOs can partner with local companies that focus on rural coverage.
Renan Ruiz, CTO at IpT, said: “With continuous delivery and deployment enabled by Parallel Wireless software, we are able to automate network deployments, make it an easy, push-button operation to deliver in our network the newest features and the newest functions. That allows us to give our customers new capabilities at the speed of software.”
Steve Papa, Founder and CEO of Parallel Wireless, added: “The end goal is to help global MNOs build and release software at high velocity without making extensive capital investments or incur ongoing maintenance cost associated with legacy network deployments. This will result in MNOs becoming fully virtualised telcos based on CI/CD models to automate deployments, save OPEX, and deliver new services more quickly.”