HPE inks 5G RAN tech deal with Telus
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) has inked a deal with Canadian telco Telus to supply its 5G RAN tech. The deal will signal the first 5G open Radio Access Network (RAN) in the country.
The deal, announced at the MWC mobile trade show in Barcelona, will see HPE’s ProLiant DL110 Gen11 servers used across 3,000 of Telus’ sites.
The HPE kit will allow Telus to cut its energy spend: according to HPE, during periods of lower demand, the ProLiant DL110 Gen11 servers can drop infrastructure into an idle state when usage is low without affecting the network’s availability or latency. The HPE servers will underpin Telus’ distributed unit, which prepares data for transmission across the 5G network.
By using Open RAN tech, the telco will gain increased interoperability across its network infrastructure.
RANs provide the connection between individual mobile devices and the core mobile network itself. Historically, parts of RANs, such as baseband units and remote radio units, were proprietary and interfaces were not standardised.
Open RANs explained
Open RANs are divided into three pieces – the radio unit (RU), distributed unit (DU), and centralised unit (CU). Under an open RAN system, the DU, RU, and CU are disaggregated, and specifications are standardised and (as the name suggests) open – meaning different suppliers can be enlisted to supply kit for different parts of the network.
Disaggregation allows telcos to use interoperable technology components from any number of different suppliers. For the networks, that means it’s easier to avoid the risk of vendor lock-in and so reduce operating costs and outlay on infrastructure upgrades.
Open RAN at MWC Barcelona
A number of other vendors have used MWC to discuss their progress on Open RAN rollouts.
US carrier AT&T’s Head of Network Chris Sambar told MWC that the company is planning to move around 70 per cent of network traffic to Open RAN infrastructure, and recently completed its first cloud RAN call on its 5G network, using Ericsson tech.
NTT Docomo this week announced that it was running field tests of Open RAN-related tech with Middle Eastern telco Ooredoo, Philippines-based Smart Communications, and Singapore’s SmartHub. NTT Docomo has also formed a joint venture with NEC to sell Open RAN services.
According to analysts, the global Open RAN market is predicted to reach nearly $9bn by 2028 and will grow at a CAGR of almost 37 per cent between 2023 and 2029.
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Jo Best
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