In the latest project looking to satisfy the demand for open networking infrastructure solutions, as well as building on the telco’s progress in developing such technologies over the past 12 months, Telefónica UK (O2) and NEC Corporation have announced a successful open radio access network (Open RAN) trial.
With acceleration increasing in the removal of essential network communications technology from so-called high-risk suppliers based in China, technology is suddenly gaining momentum. It is likely to account for $32.3bn worth of all radio access network spending – 58% of the total – and be deployed at 65% of all sites by 2026, according to a late 2020 study by RAN Research.
The UK Open RAN project was based using the O2 network with NEC and its ecosystem of partners that includes virtualised RAN software from Altiostar and hardware from GigaTera Communications and Supermicro among others. In the trial, NEC helped