Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:05):
So we're on the show floor of fyuz 24 in Dublin. I'm here with Andy Penley, he's the group CTO at Boldyn Networks. Andy, thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. So the name has been there for a while, but just remind us what Boldyn Networks is and maybe what it was.

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (00:23):
Yeah, yeah. You might know us by many, many names from the past, but about two years ago now, well one year ago now, we brought the companies together and we rebranded as Boldyn. We're a neutral host company. We the world's leading neutral host providers and private network operators.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:39):
So as I mentioned, we're here in Dublin, we're at fyuz. What brings you to this event? Why are you here?

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (00:44):
So Boldyn is a member of the telecom infrastructure project. I serve as a co-chair on the neutral host infrastructure sharing group. We have formed a partnership in that group with City Telecom Association. We're developing playbook that will help cities understand what a neutral host is and how they can help 'em reach their connectivity aspirations for their constituents.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (01:06):
Okay, and have you been talking about that here mate, with some of the city representatives as well?

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (01:11):
Yeah, we were on the CTAs panel yesterday with leaders from Madrid, the Hague, other cities, London, really digging into what their challenges are. We want to make sure when we develop this playbook, it meets the needs a real, it's a usable tool for them.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (01:30):
Okay. Now one of the other sort of main themes here at this event and for TIP as well is Open Ran. Is an open ran architecture suitable for neutral host networks? Is this something that's sort of applicable?

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (01:47):
Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So have, we actually have a neutral host open ran production network today in the UK Ireland market. We have two MNOs that are signed on as a CAS connectivity as a service. We're big believers and big investors in the future development of Open RAN and to continue along that model.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (02:10):
Okay, and just remind us where that is. In the UK is up in the north,

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (02:13):
Is it? It's up in the north, yes.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (02:15):
In Sunderland, is it? Yes. Okay. Alright and how's that going? What are you learning from that deployment?

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (02:21):
We're learning a lot. I started my career in the US and when CBRS sort of rolled out in 2015, they sort of made it available. And then 2020 I think was initial commercial deployments and we were doing a lot of testing and what we found was the kits were still sort of in beta, right? So we're finding the same, I wouldn't call it beta, but there's challenges around the software development for the kits, controls, things like that. So we're sort of working through it with the

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (02:52):
Manufacturers. Okay. And what particularly is it about an open ran architecture that desegregated architecture that's particularly suitable for neutral hosts? Are there particular attributes?

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (03:06):
Yeah, absolutely. One is obviously the open, right? So we can use any manufacturers we want. It cuts a lot of costs. I think we say probably 60 to 65% for power in operating these networks. We can deploy them much faster than a traditional end to end network.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (03:24):
Okay. Interesting. So there's obviously still a lot of work. I mean, we've been hearing that across the board. Open round's not new, but there's still a lot of work to do. What would you like to see from the open ran community, the companies that are here talking about how great their technology is and how everything's so much more mature From your perspective, what do you want to hear from these people?

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (03:47):
There's still challenges with interoperability. We go to an open ran supplier and they say, yeah, there's open ran, but you have to use a Dell server. Or we struggle with interoperability between the RU and DU at CU if they're different.

(04:03):
So, we still have problems with interoperability. I would say network management systems. We're still working through that. I know at Boldyn we're highly focused on a self-developed network management system. We're doing a lot of, developing a lot of data analytics and real visibility for our customers. But we still got some work to do on the software side.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (04:24):
Okay. Alright, well I'm sure people will be paying attention to that and I'm sure you'll get some communication about that as well. Andy, thanks very much for joining us today. Good to talk.

Andy Penley, Boldyn Networks (04:34):
Thank you, Ray.