“Open RAN is a win-win for both - Telcos and Vendors”

Rajesh Gangadhar

CTO - Access Solutions, STL

Is there a need or relevance for initiatives like Open RAN- especially with 3GPP and GSMA already around? Why would it not be just another close-knit huddle of like-minded industry players?

Open RAN is quite relevant and has its own importance. It is a collaboration of Telcos and equipment vendors with an objective to define the standards and methodology which were left undefined in the 3GPP domain. 3GPP has defined the separation of control and user plane along with a higher layer split over the F1 interface. Open RAN brings true innovation by opening the front-haul interface over the lower layer split and making it standardized so that any vendor can develop accordingly and interconnect with any other vendor’s O-DU or O-RU.

Open RAN enables flexibility and interoperability with complete openness to multi-vendor deployments. It defines open interfaces on baseband software-defined functions enabled on general-purpose hardware platforms.

Can we ever achieve true and on-ground/last-mile interoperability? What can be done to get there?

Certainly, we can achieve last-mile interoperability. Since every telco and vendor understands the importance and benefit of being ‘Open’, all have put their best foot forward in achieving this in reality. Organizations involved in various forums such as Open RAN Alliance, TIP, ONAP, etc. are continuously engaged to define the next phase/specification of the Open front-haul interface and at the back-end, they are developing their systems (Hardware as well Software) to support the full interoperability.

Conducting the interoperability testing and delivering a telco-grade matured product is not so easy and that’s why organizations are toiling to test a product first in their own environment (with simulators etc.) and then with real products from other vendors. That is where the role of various communities and interoperability test labs becomes vital. Collaborations and events such as “Plug-fest” provide a platform for various vendors for showcasing their skills and strength.

How can these tenets of standardization and interoperability be balanced with competitive innovation and patents that industry players are investing in?

For any technology to become successful, standardization plays a pivotal role. Mass adoption requires mass production and mass production requires mass acceptance. In the past, we have seen many technologies which were good but couldn’t deliver due to the challenges posed by the ecosystem.

Open RAN, as a technology, is being accepted across the industry. Telcos across the globe are showing their interest in trials and roll-out of Open RAN-compliant systems. Equipment vendors have shifted their focus from the development of traditional telecom units to the Open RAN compliant telecom units. With Open RAN as a truly innovative path for radio deployments, every other vendor wants to maintain the competitive edge by showing them as early adopters and innovators in this domain.

What challenges or gaps does the industry suffer – in your observation/opinion?

There are a few challenges being observed by the latest stream of innovators. First is the cost associated with the development of the overall ecosystem and second is the unavailability of interoperability test labs.

Since Open RAN is the latest entrant in the technology domain, it not only needs to be backward compatible with the existing technologies but needs to investigate the future as well. In other terms, it requires to be working for the existing generation of mobile communication i.e., LTE and it must work for 5G NR as well. Development cost and collaboration efforts become greater when you need support from other innovators in terms of the readiness of their system to prove interoperability.

Furthermore, the availability of an authority who can certify the functionality of two different products for the Open RAN compliance plays a very important part. Once accreditation from the local authority is available, support from other industry verticals can be sought for the overall development of the ecosystem.

What are the implications of 5G, Edge Computing, private LTE, DIY networks, Blockchain-based systems, and Industry 4.0 – if any – for Open RAN?

It may have been the case previously that with the advent of new technology, its predecessors and contemporary technologies got affected or vice-versa. In the case of Open RAN, this does not hold true. In fact, today in the technology world, where everyone speaks for Openness, Agility, Flexibility, and Security, Open RAN has it all.

Open RAN has all the benefits of 5G. It is flexible to support various deployment scenarios. It is technically efficient to support a variety of use-cases/applications delivering high data rates, millisecond latency, and billions of connections. Since it inherently supports segregation of control and user plane traffic, it complements edge computing. It is rather much beneficial to deploy a private network (LTE or 5G) with Open RAN because it can help you save cost and bring in more efficiency with customized features supporting the specific applications in the private network, which would otherwise be costlier and time-consuming considering the overall development and deployment.

In a nutshell, Open RAN doesn’t get affected by any of the technologies or scenarios. Rather, it provides a win-win scenario for both, the telcos, and the vendor organizations. It provides the opportunity to the telcos to be a part of the innovation and development cycle and gives freedom to choose its own set of network builders in a cost- & time-effective way.