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11 March 2021 | Alan Burkitt-Gray Five of the world’s largest telecoms groups have announced an accelerated programme to implement open 4G and 5G this year. Alan Burkitt-Gray looks at why the field has suddenly opened up
There’s an old story about waiting ages for a London bus, and then three come along at once. That can equally be applied to open radio access network (open RAN or O-RAN) equipment and projects schemes to open up, literally, the market for mobile telecoms equipment.
A couple of years ago, open RAN was still largely a dream among CTOs of mobile operators, annoyed at being locked for years into one of the big three or four equipment suppliers: Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia and ZTE.
TIM the former Telecom Italia has joined the alliance last month between four giant European groups to work together on open radio access networks (O-RANs) for mobile
TIM joins the party for European Open RAN totaltele.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from totaltele.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Italian national operator joins the initiative
Move comes as Dell’Oro sizes the market opportunity for vendors
The move signals strong intent by the Italian operator to commit to the deployment of disaggregated radio access network technology and lobby for state support to kickstart rollouts and foster a regional Open RAN R&D sector.
By joining its peers, it is supporting “Italian companies already developing solutions for new generation mobile networks,” noted the operator’s Chief Technology and Information Officer Michele Gamberini in this TIM announcement. The move “represents a solid opportunity to ensure our country plays a leading role as a provider of technologies for the digital transformation on a European scale… TIM is reinforcing its commitment to contribute to the development of Open RAN technology in Europe,” added Gamberini.