Vodafone has opened Europe’s first dedicated R&D centre focused on designing Open RAN chips for the operator’s networks.
Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) breaks up the dominance of a small number of telecom equipment vendors by enabling greater vendor diversity and interoperability in national infrastructure.
Governments and operators are increasingly backing Open RAN because it can lower costs, reduce vendor lock-in, and mitigate the impact of policy decisions such as excluding specific suppliers from national networks.
Francisco Martin, Head of Open RAN at Vodafone, said:
“As a pioneer of Open RAN, Vodafone is joining forces with specialist technology companies to expand the ecosystem. Silicon innovation will strengthen Europe’s position in the global market and speed up the rollout of new digital services.”
Vodafone’s claim to be an Open RAN pioneer is supported by recent milestones. Earlier this month the operator activated the UK’s first live 5G Open RAN site as part of a wider deployment plan, working alongside partners including Samsung, Wind River, Dell, Intel, Keysight Technologies and Capgemini Engineering.
The new Open RAN R&D centre is located within Vodafone’s digital skills hub in Málaga, Spain, where the company is investing €225 million over five years.
Fifty staff at the Malaga facility will be dedicated to Open RAN research, drawing on the broader talent pool of about 650 software engineers, architects and technicians based at the hub.
(Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash)
Related: UK Government announces Open RAN rollout target and 2G/3G sunsetting
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