• Vodafone Group has finally shared a few insights into its extensive RAN refresh initiative
• Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Fujitsu’s 1Finity have shared some details of their involvement in what is broadly known as the Spring 6 deployment
• Huawei is also involved but is yet to share any details of its involvement

Vodafone and a number of its mobile network infrastructure vendor partners have finally shared a few details about the operator’s major multi-market radio access network (RAN) refresh programme known in the industry as Spring 6, but only snippets of new information has been shared about the deployments. 

The telco, which has operations in multiple markets across Europe and Africa (the Vodacom and Safaricom groups that serve 355 million customers), says it is six months into the five-year programme, which includes “plans to upgrade and extend Vodafone’s RAN with 5G-Advanced (the next evolution of 5G) and energy-efficient tech with our current strategic partners Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia” as well as Samsung, which has joined Vodafone’s RAN supplier roster as “a strategic vendor for the development of Open RAN at scale across Europe”. 

It was already known that all these vendors were part of Spring 6, with Samsung having already shared some insight into its engagement with Vodafone in a recent blog – see Samsung fleshes out Open RAN deal with Vodafone.

Samsung is supplying virtual RAN technology, Open RAN-compliant radios (including massive MIMO units) and its CognitiV network operations suite management software, as well as systems integration services, it noted in its press release about the engagement.

According to Vodafone, Germany will be the first market where Samsung’s Open RAN technology will be deployed: In its own announcement, Vodafone Germany noted that the South Korean vendor’s technology will be deployed at “several thousand base stations”, which will be a mix of “new locations and retrofitting measures [replacement]”.   

The first Open RAN site is already live in Hannover, while the Hanseatic city of Wismar in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania “is set to become the first city served by Vodafone to be fully equipped with Open RAN by spring 2026.” 

In addition to Germany, Vodafone “will work with Samsung to add thousands of sites in other markets over the course of the programme,” but the operator has declined to share how many thousands of sites or which markets are involved. 

Where Samsung’s Open RAN technology is deployed, so will be supporting cloud platform and server technology from Wind River and Dell Technologies, respectively. 

Also due to be part of the Open RAN mix is Fujitsu’s 1Finity telco infrastructure division. It issued an announcement to note it will “provide field-proven, energy-efficient Open RAN radios in support of Vodafone’s mission to build one of the largest multivendor Open RAN deployments across Europe.”

Vodafone tells TelecomTV that it has the option to deploy the 1Finity radios at Samsung Open RAN sites, and “can mix and match Samsung and Fujitsu [radio units] if we want for best energy efficiency and TCO [total cost of ownership]”. However, there is no indication about the potential volume of 1Finity radios that might be deployed in Germany or elsewhere. 

As for Ericsson, it is Vodafone’s sole RAN vendor in Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal, as well as being a “major vendor” in Germany, Romania and Egypt. The Swedish vendor is to supply “Open RAN-compatible” massive MIMO radios and RAN compute solutions, as well as 5G-Advanced RAN software capabilities,” it stated in this announcement.  

The vendor is also supplying its Intelligent Automation Platform (IAP), which is its version of the service management and orchestration (SMO) system that includes a RAN intelligent controller (RIC) and associated applications for mobile network management functionality. Ericsson says it is providing Vodafone with “a number of AI-powered rApps which will be deployed market by market to deliver automated RAN optimisation, energy efficiency and management of the multivendor network. Germany will be the first market to deploy the platform and rApps for Ericsson and multivendor RAN management, with work beginning in the fourth quarter 2025. The comprehensive AI and network evolution partnership will elevate Vodafone’s infrastructure to world-class standards, taking the first steps towards autonomous networks and ensuring their networks are at the forefront of technological advancement and capable of meeting future demands,” added the vendor. 

Nokia, meanwhile, announced that it has “maintained its role as Vodafone’s strategic partner in Europe and Africa” and that it will supply the operator with equipment from its “energy-efficient AirScale Radio Access Network (RAN) portfolio, including massive MIMO radios, baseband and remote radio head (RRH) solutions powered by Nokia’s energy-efficient ReefShark System-on-Chip technology”.

Its deal includes “the first deployment of a 5G dual-band massive MIMO radio in Africa.”

The Finnish vendor will also provide its MantaRay NM solution, “an AI-powered intelligent network management system offering a consolidated network view for optimal monitoring and management. Nokia continues to partner with Vodacom Group and Safaricom Group in markets including Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa.”

Huawei has yet to make any announcements about its role in Spring 6.

Vodafone also noted that it is deploying a cloud-native 5G standalone (5G SA) core across its European operations, which will enable it to “test and introduce 5G-Advanced features when there is market demand and widespread vendor support”. Those features include network slicing, mission critical communications (MCx) services, 5G RedCap (for more efficient IoT connectivity), L4S (low-latency, low-loss, scalable throughput, a new network protocol crucial for applications requiring consistent low latency even when the network is busy) and voice over new radio (VoNR) for improved 5G voice communications. 

Alberto Ripepi, chief network officer at Vodafone, stated: “Vodafone has selected strategic partners to develop one of the largest radio networks of its kind in Europe and Africa. We are focused on delivering the best experience for our customers by investing in new technologies and architectures, including 5G Advanced, Open RAN, direct-to-device satellite and RAN automation on our journey towards building robust and autonomous networks.”

So now we know a bit more about who is doing what and where, but we don’t know the exact scale of Spring 6, such as how many sites in total are involved, what the vendor shares of the pie are, exactly how much of a role Open RAN will play across Europe, the extent of Huawei’s involvement, or how much Vodafone is investing in the five-year programme. With regards to the capital expenditure (capex), the operator says only that the investments are “within our rolling capex guidance”. 

When the initiative was first announced, Vodafone talked about an upgrade to 170,000 sites but, since then, it has sold its operations in Italy and Spain and has treated its UK upgrade as a separate project following the merger of Vodafone UK with Three UK. Its UK RAN upgrade plans were shared separately last month, when Ericsson and Nokia shared the spoils  – see Samsung squeezed out of VodafoneThree’s £2bn UK network refresh.

Vodafone says it currently has about 55,000 RAN sites across Europe (excluding the UK and Turkey). 

Might further details emerge when Vodafone announces its fiscal first half earnings update in November? It’d be interesting if it did, as Vodafone is one of the bellwether operators for the global mobile sector, which is constantly seeking guidance on how next-gen mobile infrastructure strategies are playing out. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV