The most popular Open RAN stories of 2022

• Open RAN continues to be a major topic in telecom 
• The concept is still attracting a lot of interest and activity
• But the jury is still out on the role it will play in the future
• Rakuten Symphony, Mavenir and Parallel Wireless feature in our most read articles

More so than just about any other telecom technology topic, Open RAN continues to attract more than its fair share of attention, praise and opprobrium. And as we’ve written recently, it looks like the coming 12 months will be a crunch year for those looking to deploy and make money from disaggregated, multivendor, open radio access network systems – see 2023 will be a crunch year for Open RAN.

But what were TelecomTV’s most popular Open RAN articles in 2022? Here’s the rundown…

1. ‘Mass layoff’ at Open RAN specialist Parallel Wireless

30 June 2022: This is the kind of development about which we never want to be reporting – job losses. In this instance, it was Open RAN technology specialist Parallel Wireless that decided it had no option but to undertake what one former employee has described as a “mass layoff”. A statement issued by CEO Steve Papa suggested the “pace of adoption of Open RAN” had been an issue that constrained Parallel’s growth. Read the full story.

2. Telus to put Open RAN through its paces with Rakuten Symphony

28 September 2022: Talking to TelecomTV at the TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World event in Copenhagen, Rakuten Symphony CEO Tareq Amin got excited about the prospect of a significant Open RAN deal for Symphony at Canadian operator Telus. Is this the big ‘brownfield’ announcement that Amin is hoping to make some time soon? Read the full story.

3. Rakuten Symphony unveils ‘Symworld’ and expands in Europe

14 February 2022: This has been a major year for Rakuten Mobile’s Open RAN-focused vendor offshoot, which wisely used the weeks prior to the well-attended MWC22 event to announce its cloud-oriented mobile network platform, Symworld, and generate plenty of interest in its activities at the Barcelona-based jamboree. That interest came not only from prospective network operator customers, but also from the vendors under threat from this new hybrid rival. Read the full story.

4. Mavenir raises $155m, aims to become full system supplier to telcos

4 October 2022: Mavenir has been expanding its portfolio of products in recent years, even adding radio unit hardware to its arsenal in an effort to land package deals from network operators, but this year it figured it needs to be a lead contractor to its customers if it’s to become a true vendor heavyweight – but that kind of move requires a different level of capital muscle. Read the full story.

5. Rakuten Symphony to roll its RIC dice in Vegas

27 September 2022: Tareq Amin was in a chatty mood at the TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World event in Copenhagen, where he not only heaped praise on Telus but also previewed a big announcement to be made at the upcoming MWC Las Vegas event, where Symphony was due to announce a significant RAN intelligent controller (RIC) relationship. Ultimately, that announcement didn’t make the cut for Las Vegas but was instead held until early November, when Juniper Networks was revealed as Symphony’s RIC buddy. Read the full story.

Other Open RAN articles that attracted a lot of eyeballs included:

• NTT DOCOMO unveils ‘shared lab’ as it takes its 5G Open RAN Ecosystem global
• Deutsche Telekom's six steps to Open RAN success
• NEC acquires Open RAN integrator Aspire
• Sterlite exits Open RAN, sticks with optical
• For the Open RAN community, RIC compatibility is already a concern

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV