The parties say this is the first such implementation in Europe
At O2 Telefónica and Ericsson showcased the “first 5G Cloud RAN installation in Europe” at the Wayra innovation hub in Munich. The proof of concept (PoC) used a centralised control unit (CU) and mmWave frequency to achieve end-to-end speed of more than 4Gbps.
This “demonstrates the efficiency and performance of Ericsson’s 5G Cloud RAN solution” and “validates the feasibility of Cloud RAN for enterprise and industry-specific use cases as well as fixed wireless access (FWA) use cases”, according to the vendor.
Data Shower is one such use case, a new one for the automotive industry, which supports software updates to vehicles in production lines. According to the press statement, “The PoC serves as a crucial foundation for O2 Telefónica’s efforts to bring Cloud RAN technology to macro networks”.
Ericsson’s commitment to Open RAN?
Ericsson claims the PoC proves its commitment to Open RAN – something that the wider industry has often questioned, see this excellent analysis in Lightreading. New analysis from Dell’Oro Group also revises down its forecast for the growth of Open RAN up to 2027.
The vendor also claims this cloud-native software for 5G Cloud RAN will give O2 Telefónica in Germany “significant gains in flexibility, service delivery and improved network operations.
The PoC extends the collaboration on network cloudification by Ericsson and O2 Telefónica in Germany.
“This initiative also sets the stage for other communication service providers (CSPs) to leverage network automation and RAN programmability, thereby enhancing their overall network flexibility, scalability, and simplification.”
Mallik Rao, the operator’s CTIO, says, “O2 Telefónica is a pioneer in deploying new network technologies…With Cloud RAN, we combine the benefits of open interfaces with the expertise and product quality of European network equipment supplier Ericsson, whose technology we already use for our high-performance 5G core network.”