MTN Group, South Africa’s telecom giant, is set to partner with five firms to start an open radio access network (OpenRAN) in Africa. The partnership is expected to expand its 4G and 5G services, make them cheaper and faster.
This was disclosed by the company in a statement issued on Wednesday and seen by Nairametrics. The partners are Voyage, India’s Tech Mahindra (TEML.NS) and U.S.-based firms Altiostar, Mavenir and Parallel Wireless.
OpenRAN allows for the disaggregation of hardware and software elements of a network, enabling telcos to build a network using components with the same specifications and scale from a diverse base of vendors.
Benefits of OpenRAN
- The many benefits of OpenRAN include diversifying the vendor landscape, disrupting the cost flow, and removing dependencies on proprietary suppliers.
- It also promises cost savings and flexibility as it allows operators to use generic hardware and open interfaces.
- It enables a so-called ‘Lego architecture’ where many different vendors supply the components and software products that together make the end-to-end radio network work.
- By modernising the network, it reduces telco’s power consumption and emissions in support of Project Zero.
Chief Technology and Information Officer, MTN Group, Charles Molapisi stated
He added that the Group is alive to the potential of open interfaces and that there is a lot of value that dominant players bring to the business, “but telecommunications today is as much about the stability of the network as it is about new services. Customers measure us against the speed with which we can deploy the latest technology and we are committed to finding faster and better ways to do that.”
Source: https://nairametrics.com/2021/06/16/mtn-partners-5-firms-to-expand-4g-5g-services/