Vodafone and Nokia have agreed to jointly work on a fully compliant Open Radio Access Network (RAN) solution, marking a significant milestone for the mobile industry and a major boost to Europe’s competitiveness.
The combination of Nokia’s ReefShark advanced System on Chip (SoC) technology, developed in cooperation with Marvell, with standard Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) servers will enable the Open RAN system to reach functionality and performance parity with traditional mobile radio networks. Nokia’s ReefShark SoC boosts the Layer-1 processing capability, which is necessary to connect many users to the mobile base station and support high levels of mobile data traffic.
Nokia is the first large European-based RAN equipment supplier to fully support Open RAN. This partnership with Nokia will help Vodafone meet its public target of having 30% of its European networks running on Open RAN by 2030, as well as boost the EU’s global technology leadership in digital infrastructure.
Early next year Vodafone and Nokia aim to demonstrate an Open RAN baseband system, which processes customer mobile traffic, using in-line Layer-1 acceleration, in a major step towards wider Open RAN adoption. This solution will ultimately be deployed together with third party COTS server providers, in accordance with the industry’s vision for an open and secure ecosystem built around the specifications developed by industry body, the ORAN Alliance.
Johan Wibergh, Chief Technology Officer of Vodafone, said: “Open RAN is transforming networks from pure communications systems into platforms for innovation. It transforms mobile masts into automated software-driven, smart towers capable of supporting new applications for use in telemedicine, homes, transport, and factories. It is why we have spearheaded the technology, together with other like-minded companies, to live deployments.
“I’m delighted to see Nokia’s commitment to the club and I’m sure together we will maintain the flow of innovation in Europe.”
Open RAN separates the hardware and software at a mobile base station, allowing for a mix of equipment from different vendors, including the use of general-purpose hardware. Open RAN also promises to allow for far great levels of automation than have so far been possible.
Today’s announcement builds on Vodafone’s opening earlier this year of Europe’s first dedicated R&D centre for the advancement of Open RAN networks. The centre, housed in Vodafone’s new digital skills hub in Málaga, Spain is focussed on establishing a strong ecosystem for Open RAN solutions in Europe.
For further information:
Vodafone Group, Media Relations
GroupMedia@vodafone.com
Investor Relations
Email: ir@vodafone.co.uk
About Vodafone
Unique in its scale as the largest pan-European and African technology communications company, Vodafone transforms the way we live and work through its innovation, technology, connectivity, platforms, products and services.
Vodafone operates mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries, and partners with mobile networks in 47 more. As of 30 June 2022, we had over 300m mobile customers, more than 28m fixed broadband customers and 22m TV customers. Vodafone is a world leader in the Internet of Things (IoT), connecting around 160m devices and platforms.
We have revolutionised fintech in Africa through M-Pesa, which celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2022. It is the region’s largest fintech platform, providing access to financial services for more than 50m people in a secure, affordable and convenient way.
Our purpose is to connect for a better future by using technology to improve lives, digitalise critical sectors and enable inclusive and sustainable digital societies.
We are committed to reducing our environmental impact to reach net zero emissions across our full value chain by 2040, while helping our customers reduce their own carbon emissions by 350m tonnes by 2030. We are driving action to reduce device waste and achieve our target to reuse, resell or recycle 100% of our network waste.
We believe in the power of connectivity and digital services to improve society and economies, partnering with governments to digitalise healthcare, education and agriculture and create cleaner, safer cities. Our products and services support the digitalisation of businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Our inclusion for all strategy seeks to ensure no-one is left behind through access to connectivity, digital skills and creating relevant products and services such as access to education, healthcare and finance. We are also committed to developing a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects the customers and societies we serve.
For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.
About Marvell
To deliver the data infrastructure technology that connects the world, we’re building solutions on the most powerful foundation: our partnerships with our customers. Trusted by the world’s leading technology companies for over 25 years, we move, store, process and secure the world’s data with semiconductor solutions designed for our customers’ current needs and future ambitions. Through a process of deep collaboration and transparency, we’re ultimately changing the way tomorrow’s enterprise, cloud, automotive, and carrier architectures transform—for the better.
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