Page 43 - SAMENA Trends - October 2021

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

ARTICLE

Open RAN to Create an Evolution in the Telecom Industry

Open radio access networks (Open RAN) are the dominant topic of
discussion in the mobile network world today. A movement to disaggregate
wireless telecommunications RAN functions and create open interfaces
between them, Open RAN promises a future in which long-term costs for
mobile operators are sharply reduced, vendor competition is increased,
network flexibility is enhanced, and opportunities for innovation are
expanded.

As new use cases such as autonomous
vehicles, smart cities, and automated factories
emerge, mobile operators will need to support
communication between a million devices per

square kilometer (compared w/ 100k for 4G).
MNOs will only be able to take advantage of
these opportunities if they can scale up their
networks affordably.

The Open RAN movement closely parallels the evolution from proprietary
systems to open systems to virtualisation that occurred in the IT industry
beginning in the 1980s. That earlier example offers convincing proof that
moving away from proprietary hardware and software to interoperable
systems is beneficial for all parties.
Mohamed H Almarzooqi
Acting CTO-International Companies across the mobile ecosystem agree. Mobile operators,
Etisalat Group network equipment manufacturers, chip makers, and software vendors
around the globe are joining a growing number of Open RAN standards
and advocacy organisations, and prominent Open RAN deployments
have demonstrated the commercial viability of the technology.

The Open RAN architecture is purposely designed to meet the evolving
needs of mobile operators.

What Open RAN means for operators?
The advent of 5G and its escalating demands for long-term investment in
capacity, power, backhaul infrastructure, and more are forcing operators
to take a hard look at how best to accommodate growth, ensure QoS, and
simplify their architectures while getting the lowest network total cost of
ownership (TCO).

43 OCTOBER 2021