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The main European telecommunications operators show their progress in Open RAN

Five of the main telecommunications operators in Europe have produced a report in which they show your progress in Open RAN. Are Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telecom Italia (TIM), Telefónica and Vodafone. The report is titled “Open RAN MoU Progress Update on Maturity, Security and Energy Efficiency”, and in addition to advances, it also houses the main questions and challenges posed by the technology.

The aforementioned operators signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2021, with which they committed to working with all the players in the sector to ensure that Open RAN technology became the preferred technology for the mobile networks of the future.

Vodafone, in particular, has been making progress with its Open RAN deployments. A few days ago, the operator unveiled its latest innovation related to this technology: a prototype of a “5G network in a box”, developed based on the Raspberry Pi, with a size similar to that of a conventional WiFi router and with a defined radio chipset. by software (SDR) developed by Lime Microsystems. In addition, the operator announced last December that it had plans to install the technology on 16 mobile poles in Devon, UK.

The report focuses on three main areas: maturity, security and energy efficiency. Points out that the technology gap between conventional RAN and Open RAN is narrowing, thanks to several Open RAN deployments that have recently been underway in the UK and North America, with the collaboration of the governments of the territories in which it is being carried out. doing.

Open RAN may soon get another boost as the United States, Canada and Australia have endorsed the technology’s vision. British government, made public last year. In addition, the US government plans to invest $1.5 billion in support of local telecommunications providers to replace Huawei equipment and to boost Open RAN adoption. Likewise, this year will be one of the main keys that are related to the maturity of 5G in urban areas.

Another of the keys to the advancement of technology is security, and the five telecommunications operators that have participated in the preparation of the report are cooperating with the national authorities of each country in the sharing of information on the security, implementation and management of Open RAN.

All have formally requested the inclusion of Open RAN as part of the GSMA Security Assurance Scheme (NESAS) and the European Union 5G Certification Scheme defined by Enisa. They have also been applying mandatory controls defined by the O-RAN Alliance, in addition to the 3GPP security specifications. In addition, they have followed a “zero trust” approach for each provider, with the aim of making sure that they follow the established standards and regulations.

On the other hand, the operators want to increase the energy efficiency of all Open RAN components, with a specific interest in applying it to radio transmitters and cloud infrastructure. According to the report, the power efficiency achieved with Open RAN radio units is similar to that used with traditional RAN, and improved with dynamic sleep mode, which works based on actual traffic needs.

The report also reveals advances in energy efficiency in cloud infrastructure, which according to the operators is mainly due to advances in technologies related to CPUs and accelerators, as well as cooling systems for servers. The operators too have proposed a general framework for power control of all parties involved in the Open RAN systemincluding real-time reporting, tools and methodologies used to achieve further automation.

New pilot deployments of systems using Open RAN technology are planned before the end of this year, before they begin their large-scale deployments in Europe, scheduled for 2025.

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