• Deutsche Telekom has been taking a step-by-step approach to Open RAN 
• It is in the process of deploying more than 3,000 Open RAN sites by the end of next year
• Now it’s ready for the next phase
• It is set to issue a request for quote (RFQ) document for 30,000 sites at the beginning of 2026, with Open RAN as part of the mix

DUBLIN, IRELAND – FYUZ25 – Deutsche Telekom is getting ready for the next phase of its Open RAN deployments with plans to issue a request for quotation (RFQ) document for 30,000 radio access network (RAN) sites at the beginning of 2026, with Open RAN as part of the mix, the giant German telco’s senior VP of RAN disaggregation and enablement, Thomas Lips, told the keynote panel audience here in Dublin on Tuesday morning. 

Lips was part of a telco panel, which also included executives from AT&T, Telus and Vodafone (and was hosted by TelecomTV), that discussed their latest Open RAN rollout updates and plans. 

Lips noted that the current 3,000-plus site rollout has gone well, and praised vendor partners Nokia and 1Finity – which was still using the Fujitsu name when the engagement was announced in late 2023 – for their commitment and willingness to collaborate on a project that is well underway and set to complete in 2027.

“I can only say kudos to Nokia… and 1Finity. They’re doing a fantastic job. We are getting a quality that is on par and better than” the supplier we are swapping out… so what we are seeing is fantastic.”

But that rollout is, said Lips, “only the first step, starting in Germany,” while the DT empire spreads across multiple markets in Europe. “So we are going to come out with a big RFQ, 30,000 sites, at the beginning of January,” with Open RAN to be part of that process.  

He noted that the “magnitude of the RFQ brings us… to a change in the operating model, a change in how we are managing our networks. We are developing our own SMO [service management and orchestration] which is not unusual… it’s something of a journey. But what is probably unusual is that we are already transforming today… we are implementing multivendor dynamic slicing already with our own software, and [implementing] conflict management for all the applications,” with AI-enabled rApps running on DT’s own RAN intelligent controller (RIC) platform as part of the SMO deployment.  

Lips, who is also on the board of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), noted that the implementation of Open RAN strategies by leading operators has “already changed the industry. The way we as Tier 1 operators are communicating with each other, how we are… exchanging information about the things that are working, that are not working – we are sharing the burden, and we are creating examples. That has already changed industry in a big way,” noted the DT man. 

Look out for an exclusive video interview with Lips on TelecomTV soon. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV