Talley Inc

SNS Telecom & IT's recent report on radio access network (RAN) automa on predicts that the cellular industry will spend about $700 million on automated open RAN so ware by 2027, up from under $100 million today. The cellular industry's shi towards open interfaces, common informa on models, virtualiza on and so ware-driven networking, are mostly driving a move from the tradi onal distributed self- op mized networks (D-SON) and centralized self-op mized networks (C-SON) approach to Open RAN automa on with standards-based components, SNS Telecom said in the report. These automated open RAN networks will specifically use Near- RT (Real-Time) and Non-RT RICs (RAN Intelligent Controllers), SMO (Service Management & Orchestra on) framework, xApps (Extended Applica ons) and rApps (RAN Applica ons) – that enable greater levels of RAN programmability and automa on, SNS noted in the report. "AT&T is one of the first well-established brownfield operators to ini ate the commercial implementa on of an Open RAN specifica ons-aligned automa on pla orm for intelligent network control and programmability on a na onwide basis," Asad Khan, research director, 5G and wireless networks at SNS Telecom and IT, told Fierce in an email. He noted that within the framework of AT&T's five-year $14 Billion Open RAN infrastructure deployment contract with Ericsson, AT&T is adop ng the Swedish telecommunica ons vendor's EIAP (Ericsson Intelligent Automa on Pla orm) as the SMO and Non-RT RIC pla orm to replace two legacy C-SON solu ons that currently support centralized RAN op miza on as well as to orchestrate distributed RAN management systems and other network domains, including support for cross-domain, core and transport automa on- related use cases. One of AT&T's exis ng C-SON pla orms has been developed in-house while the other one has been supplied by HCLTech. SON swap Old- mey readers may remember that AT&T invested early in SON pla orms with an investment in Intucell Systems over a decade ago. Cisco bought Intucell and then HCLTech bought Cisco's SON unit. "AT&T will ini ate the migra on of the vast majority of cells from legacy systems to the EIAP as a common RAN management and automa on pla orm in 2025, followed by the valida on and onboarding of third-party and in-house rApps across applica on areas ranging from RAN resource op miza on and user experience assurance to spectrum efficiency and energy savings," Khan said. With the transi on from two legacy C-SON solu ons to the Open RAN SMO and Non-RT RIC pla orm, AT&T ini ally expects to see a slight increase in the TCO as a result of opera ng mul ple parallel systems for a period of me before the migra on of all cells and network management systems. "In the long term, the mobile operator foresees significant benefits in terms of network performance, efficiency and cost savings," he added. The Open RAN tour In neighboring Canada, Telus has also ini ated the implementa on of an SMO and RIC pla orm along with its mul -vendor Open RAN deployment to transform up to 50% of its RAN footprint and swap out Huawei equipment from its 4G/5G network, the report said. Similar efforts are also underway in other regions. For example, in Europe, Swisscom is deploying an SMO and Non-RT RIC pla orm to provide mul -technology network management and automa on capabili es as part of a wider effort to future-proof its brownfield mobile network, while Deutsche Telekom is progressing with plans to develop its own vendor-independent SMO framework. Open RAN automa on is also expected to be introduced as part of Vodafone Group's global tender for refreshing 170,000 cell sites. In Asia, China Mobile has recently started deploying a RAN automa on pla orm — and a corresponding digital twin — beginning in Henan province in the east of the country. In Japan, the report said, So Bank is implemen ng a closed loop automa on solu on for cluster-wide RAN op miza on in stadiums, event venues, and other strategic loca ons across Japan, which supports data collec on and parameter tuning in one-to-five minute intervals as opposed to the 15-minute control cycle of tradi onal C-SON systems. Despite star ng back at the beginning of the 4G LTE era — way back in 2010, if you can remember such ancient mes! - RAN automa on can s ll lessen CO2 emissions, op mize performance and reduce capital expenditure on the single most expensive part of a cellular network, SNS concludes. Par cularly, with new open RAN-focused automa on pla orms coming into play. Ar cle Credit: h ps://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/sns-ran- automa on-spending-grow SNS: RAN automation spending to hit $700M by 2027 Talleycom.com SHEET QUARTER 3 2024

• Cover