Vodafone Ireland is the first to roll out Open RAN sites across the North West region using Parallel Wireless O-RAN software to deliver new 4G service to 30 locations in a faster and more cost-efficient way, announced Parallel Wireless.
Open RAN is an industry approach to define and build 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G RAN solutions based on a general-purpose, vendor-neutral hardware and software-defined technology with open interfaces between the components. Open RAN allows mobile operators to mix and match radio, software and server suppliers hence delivering supplier diversity, flexibility in deployments and TCO reduction. Open RAN CAPEX spent is predicted to reach over $40 billion and to account for over 50% total RAN spend by 2026.
In Ireland, the sites are being built on an O-RAN architecture with a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) provided by Comba Telecom, Parallel Wireless Distributed Unit (DU) and Central Unit (CU) software running on a vBBU (virtual Baseband Unit) provided by Supermicro and deployed on site. The DU/CU software connects to Parallel Wireless' Near Real-time Intelligent Controller (RIC), located in a Dublin data center on HP hardware using VMWare ESXi v6.7 virtualized environment.
Didier Clavero, Chief Technology Officer, Vodafone Ireland
Delivering Open RAN sites is a pivotal moment in the provision of mobile coverage to rural communities in Ireland, as this pioneering new approach reduces cost, increases flexibility and enables new suppliers to support the expansion of Vodafone's mobile network in hard to reach areas.
Keith Johnson, Chief Operation Officer, Parallel Wireless
We are pleased to be working with Vodafone Ireland to enable an open ecosystem of disaggregated RAN solutions based on open interfaces and O-RAN standards, helping to expand coverage quickly and cost effectively and make a positive impact in the lives of end users with Open RAN.
