MWC26: Samsung leads latest Open RAN charge

• Open RAN is still making waves in Barcelona
• Samsung has announced a deal with Rakuten Mobile and advances with Vodafone
• Orex announces another Open RAN-enabled FWA deal
• The O-RAN Alliance held its latest summit at MWC26

BARCELONA – #MWC26 – While there’s a lot of noise and activity around AI-RAN here in Barcelona, there were a few reminders today that Open RAN developments and deployments are still ongoing, with Samsung Networks and the O-RAN Alliance in the thick of the action. 

The Alliance has been hosting its latest summit, featuring speakers from the likes of AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and a host of technology suppliers. The summit was live streamed via TelecomTV and will be made available on demand in the coming days. 

Meanwhile, Samsung Networks has announced a deal to supply Open RAN-compliant 5G radios to Japanese operator Rakuten Mobile, with commercial deployment to start later this year. The vendor says it will supply a range of radios, including low-band (700MHz) and mid-band (1.7GHz) solutions, as well as massive MIMO radios supporting the 3.8GHz band. 

Angelo Jeongho Park, head of global sales and marketing for the Networks Business, at Samsung Electronics, stated: “This underscores Samsung’s successful entry into a new customer partnership and further solidifies our Open RAN leadership. We expect to bolster our joint efforts with Rakuten Mobile to make greater strides on the global stage by embracing AI and openness.”

Samsung Networks has also been furthering its work with Vodafone on the operator’s next-generation wireless network capabilities. The companies have carried out a voice call test using the vendor’s virtual RAN (vRAN) solution – Xeon 6 SoC (system-on-chip) technology from Intel that was optimised for vRAN workloads – servers from Dell Technologies and a cloud platform from Wind River. The multivendor system is due to be commercially deployed this year.  

This test of Intel’s latest chipset “reinforces a shared commitment to advance next-generation autonomous networks, which are built on a software-driven, cloud-native and open network architecture, fully supporting AI,” noted Samsung in this announcement. It added that a software, cloud-native approach can help networks to become more efficient, more adaptable and more prepared for future network technologies, including AI and 6G.

The announcement builds on Vodafone’s selection of Samsung as a key partner for Open RAN deployments across Europe. The two deployed the first Open RAN test site in Germany last year, and the city of Wismar is set to become the first city in the Vodafone mobile network in Germany to be fully equipped with Open RAN later this year.

“Vodafone is focused on delivering the best possible customer experience by building a future-ready network,” said Marco Zangani, director of network strategy and architecture at Vodafone. “The test conducted with Samsung, alongside our implementation of open network architecture, supports this strategy, enabling us to introduce new 5G-Advanced services while enhancing energy efficiency and streamlining operations through automation and AI from the cell site to the edge of the network and in the core.”

Elsewhere in the Open RAN sector, Orex SAI, the Open RAN joint venture of NEC and NTT Docomo, announced it is preparing field trials of Open RAN-enabled fixed wireless access (FWA) technology in the Philippines with Comclark Network and Technology Corp.

According to Orex SAI, it is working with Comclark to help deliver affordable and scalable internet access in those rural, mountainous and remote island locations of the country (which comprises more than 7,000 islands) where it is uneconomical to deploy fibre access networks. 

The companies are currently conducting a business feasibility study and preparing for technical trials, which will aim to validate the Open RAN solution using spectrum in the n50 L-band (1500 MHz). “This initiative aims to bring high-speed internet to communities that have long been underserved,” noted Orex SAI, which has been working on a similar deployment in Indonesia.   

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV