Parallel Wireless announced that MTN Group is set to deploy more than 5,000 sites across their 21 operations, bringing 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity using Parallel Wireless OpenRAN into areas that were previously unconnected.
Parallel Wireless enables a shift to open, software-based, and virtualized OpenRAN network architectures to overcome these deployment challenges, while also delivering network agility and much lower deployment and maintenance cost.
Parallel Wireless claims that its OpenRAN has shown a very strong performance, quality of service and cost benefits while for the first time simultaneously delivering all 3 RAN technologies (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE) to commercial customers. The multi-technology software-defined GPP-based base stations allows MTN to deploy 2G systems with fully virtualized 2G technology and to run simultaneously 2G, 3G and 4G on the same base station to provide commercial data and voice services to MTN's customers across Africa, in urban and rural parts of the country. Multi-technology RRUs are software-defined, easy to deploy and maintain, and are software upgradable to 5G.
Rob Shuter, President and CEO, MTN Group
Our Group Technology team has been pioneering OpenRAN, concluding field trials in Zambia in 2018 and deploying commercial sites from the beginning of 2019.
Christoph Fitih, Sales Director, Africa, Parallel Wireless
By shifting networks to virtualized OpenRAN, MTN can cloudify their networks to deliver coverage to every single subscriber at much lower cost.
