Sterlite Partners with Facebook Connectivity to Develop Evenstar 4G, 5G Radio Units

Sterlite Technologies said on Tuesday that it is collaborating with Facebook Connectivity. The companies will design and develop 4G and 5G products as part of the Evenstar program. Notably, the Evenstar program is a collaborative effort by Facebook Connectivity and industry players to accelerate Open RAN adoption.

Sterlite Partners with Facebook

STL and Facebook Connectivity will aim to accelerate the commercial Open RAN deployment. Basically, Open RAN means that telcos can disaggregate hardware and software components of the network. This move also allows them to buy products from different vendors, reducing costs.

Jaydeep Ranade, Director of Wireless Engineering for Facebook Connectivity, said, "the Evenstar program is a part of our efforts to accelerate the availability and commercial readiness of Open RAN solutions, and we are excited to have STL on board. We look forward to working with STL to continue shifting the industry towards open, disaggregated, and more vendor-agnostic 5G networks".

Chris Rice, CEO of Access Solutions Business, STL, "we are delighted to support and contribute to the Evenstar program to develop 3GPP and O-RAN compliant radio products…. By enabling an open networking infrastructure through efforts like this one, we are enabling global telecom service providers to take the power of 5G technology to billions of people worldwide at lower cost points".

This collaboration will see Sterlite build two high-power radio products. First, it will make an Open RAN compliant radio, which will provide higher capacity for dense deployments. Second, Sterlite will also develop an Open RAN compliant 4G+5G dual-technology radio. This will help support both networks technologies individually and/or concurrently.

Sterlite said that it will develop and market these products over the next year. Once ready, it will enable telcos to ready their networks for 5G networks based on Open RAN. Previously, Sterlite had launched a suite of open networking products. These include 5G wireless products such as Garuda indoor small cells, 5G multi-band macro radios, and WiFi-6 carrier-grade access solutions. Right now, telcos in telcos in the US, UK, and the APAC are testing these products.