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Samsung’s Leadership in Open RAN Recognized by Top Analyst Firms

Nov 13. 2023
  • Ji-Yun Seol, Vice President, Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics

    Ji-Yun Seol

    Vice President, Head of Product Strategy, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics

The ongoing advancement of Open RAN represents a pivotal stride in contemporary connectivity, fostering interoperability of network components from various vendors. With Open RAN, operators gain flexibility by selecting the most suitable components for every facet of their network infrastructure. With its technical prowess and extensive list of customer deployments, Samsung is the frontrunner in driving Open RAN development and pushing commercial adoption globally.

 

Leading analysts are also recognizing Samsung’s role with Open RAN. Dell’Oro, a leading source of market information about telecommunications, awarded Samsung as the Open RAN global leader in 2022. Analysys Mason, a telecom consulting and research leader, wrote recently that Samsung is influential in the Open RAN space because it has “significant radio expertise and credibility with brownfield operators.” Both analyst firms are validating the exciting work done by Samsung.

Here is why top analyst firms are claiming Samsung as a mature and reliable leader in Open RAN.

 

Propelling Open RAN forward

Samsung continues to design and innovate Open RAN in many areas.

 

  • Samsung has been at the forefront of expanding collaboration among various industry players to forge a robust, open ecosystem. Partnerships range from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers, container platforms (CaaS), processors, xHaul transport and cloud solutions. Samsung’s Open RAN ecosystem fosters a fully interoperable approach to open networks, offering an array of options for network buildouts. Samsung has validated interoperability with various partners’ solutions and have proven its telco-grade performance and capabilities in commercial networks.

 

  • Samsung has also been an active participant within the O-RAN Alliance, continuously expanding its influence in the Open RAN domain. In 2022, Samsung has been elected as an official member of the Technical Oversight Committee (TPC) for the O-RAN open source project – the leading body within the O-RAN Software Community. Samsung has been playing a key role in the decision-making undertaken by the committee to ensure alignment with the O-RAN Alliance. 

Pioneering the Open RAN revolution around the world

Open RAN was first proposed in 2016 by the Telecom Infa Project (TIP) as operators were seeking ways to foster innovation in a highly concentrated/closed ecosystem and to tackle high costs in the telecom equipment sector. Within two years following the introduction of Open RAN, Samsung partnered with a U.S. Tier 1 operator to support them in their 4G Open RAN initiative, and preparing the path for 5G and the virtualization of the RAN. Samsung has continued to work with the operator to the present day, supplying O-RAN compliant radios and virtualized RAN (vRAN) for 4G and 5G networks.

 

Samsung's commitment to Open RAN has continued to manifest in a series of impactful tests and deployments across the globe. Vodafone and Samsung successfully switched on the first 5G Open RAN site in the U.K. in 2022 and recently began a massive Open RAN rollout in the U.K., replacing the operator’s legacy technology. The companies are integrating Open RAN with Samsung’s 64T64R Massive MIMO radios as well as third-party Massive MIMO radios, demonstrating multi-vendor interoperability.

 

According to Vodafone's recent announcements, the Open RAN work in the U.K. serves as a "blueprint for success", where most of the KPIs in the network are matching or outperforming legacy kit.

 

In Romania, pilot projects are advancing within a multi-operator commercial network environment, showcasing the practicality of shared RAN and highlighting the promising potential of RAN sharing based on Open RAN technology.

 

Samsung recently announced a new collaboration with O2 Telefónica to jointly test advanced vRAN and Open RAN technologies in Germany, continuing to expand its footprint across Europe.

 

In Japan, KDDI made waves by activating the world's first Standalone Open RAN site powered by vRAN in Japan in 2022. Building upon this milestone, KDDI spearheaded the deployment of O-RAN compliant vRAN in Osaka, with multi-vendor interoperability with other vendor's Massive MIMO radios.

 

Furthermore, Samsung has commercial multi-vendor experience with O-RAN compliant radios and O-RAN compliant vRAN, contributing to the DISH Wireless deployment of the first open and virtualized greenfield 5G network in the U.S.

 

Conclusion

According to a recent report, Open RAN is projected to make up a substantial 15-20% of the worldwide RAN expenditure by 2027. This data underscores the ongoing trend of Open RAN's growing acceptance and integration within operator networks. As the leader in the field, Samsung will persist in spearheading the advancement and implementation of Open RAN technology. Samsung continues its unwavering commitment and position as the leader in the Open RAN community, ensuring the continued success of this transformative technology.

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