Open Radio Access Networks Demonstrate Market Momentum

5G Americas' latest white paper explores Open RAN standards encouraging continuous innovation, improving interoperability, heightening security, and introducing new energy efficiencies.

In modern wireless telecommunications networks, Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) are redefining industry standards, shifting from proprietary, integrated systems to flexible, open architectures. Today, 5G Americas, the voice of 5G and beyond in the Americas, has released a white paper titled ‘Open RAN Update’ which outlines how Open RAN is progressing towards multi-vendor interoperability and a competitive environment with diverse supply chains.

Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, said, “Open RAN has industry and market momentum with some forecasts predicting a significant uptick in deployments, potentially reaching 1.3 million cell sites by the decade's end.”

With Open RAN deployments extending beyond initial greenfield operations to wider adoption, standardization efforts spearheaded by the O-RAN Alliance are fortifying the Open RAN ecosystem. Progress on Open RAN standards continue to work towards seamless multi-vendor interoperability that ensures compliance across a range of vendor products. Additionally, the emerging standards support robust security measures that align with zero-trust networking principles, as well as introduce new initiatives in efficiency that optimize energy use with advanced controls for carriers, cells, and RF channels. Continuous ongoing advancements in Massive MIMO and MU-MIMO beamforming are also set to enhance RAN performance and efficiency.

Key topics covered in this latest 5G Americas’ white paper also include:

• Open RAN Standards and Specifications
• O-RAN Architectures
• Updates to Standards and Specifications
• Securing Open RAN
• RAN Intelligent Controller & Service Management and Orchestration
• Market & Deployments Updates

According to Dr Mark Grayson, Fellow, Cisco and working group co-leader of the white paper stated, “Open RAN continues to build momentum from technology advancements and specifications to the recent market announcements. The white paper provides an update on Open RAN and the potential benefits of an open, virtualized, automated and cloud-driven 5G Network.”

Rajarajan Sivaraj, Director, Open RAN Architecture and Standards, Mavenir, and working group co-leader of the white paper said, “Open RAN stands at the forefront of innovation, with continued advancements in the architecture and features being specified at the Open RAN Alliance. Specifically, the certification and badging programs introduced by the O-RAN Alliance ensure compliance and interoperability across a range of vendor products.”

This technical paper builds on the groundwork laid by the previous 5G Americas paper published in Feb 2023.

About 5G Americas: The Voice of 5G and LTE for the Americas

5G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization’s mission is to facilitate and advocate for the advancement of 5G and beyond throughout the Americas. 5G Americas is invested in developing a connected wireless community while leading 5G development for all the Americas. 5G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. More information is available at 5G Americas’ website, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter).

5G Americas’ Board of Governors Members include Airspan Networks Inc., Antel, AT&T, Ciena, Cisco, Crown Castle, Ericsson, Liberty Latin America, Mavenir, Nokia, Qualcomm Incorporated, Rogers Communications, Samsung, T-Mobile US, Inc., Telefónica, VMware, and WOM.

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