Verizon has deployed more than 130,000 O-RAN-capable radios, including massive MIMO antennas, across 15,000 O-RAN-compliant cell sites that use virtualized baseband units. This milestone advances Verizon’s shift to an Open RAN architecture designed to deliver greater flexibility, faster innovation, and increased supplier diversity within the radio access network.
O-RAN standards provide open, interoperable interfaces that allow different hardware and software components to interoperate, breaking the traditional model of vendor lock-in. Verizon and other operators believe Open RAN can spur competition and accelerate innovation in RAN development, ultimately benefiting both operators and end users.
“This announcement follows another major US operator’s recent Open RAN commitment, underlining a clear industry shift toward open networking,” said Kristian Toivo, Executive Director at the Telecom Infra Project.
“Leading operators around the world are increasingly moving away from proprietary network builds in favor of open, cloud-native approaches that expand choice and drive modernization.”
Verizon began virtualizing its core network in 2019, moving to a cloud-native, containerized architecture. In 2020 it virtualized baseband functions—the compute-intensive elements of the radio access network—establishing the foundation for the flexibility and rapid integration that O-RAN supports.
“Verizon supports O-RAN technology and is focused on bringing an operationally viable O-RAN architecture to market,” said Adam Koeppe, SVP of Technology Planning at Verizon.
“By contributing to O-RAN standards and deploying compliant equipment, we’re helping drive the ecosystem forward and create tangible benefits for customers.”
With more than 130,000 O-RAN radios in service, Verizon is pressing forward with its Open RAN strategy to influence the future of wireless networks. Early results suggest the open and competitive RAN ecosystem can unlock significant innovation opportunities.
(Photo by Leon Bredella on Unsplash)
See also: SK Telecom and Intel develop low-latency 6G Core tech
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