Open RAN Market Drivers

Summary

The Radio Intelligent Controllers are capable of execution of the optimization actions to drive the Radio Access Network (RAN) behavior to desired direction. For wireless network operators, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of RAN is an important component of the business model, estimated as 60% of the TCO of the whole network. O‐RAN technology enables advanced network optimization solutions, e.g. Energy Efficiency type of optimization, traffic steering, intelligent QoS support, and more. Cloud native implementation of Central Unit and especially Distributed Unit is an important condition of RAN virtualization/cloudification, which is an essential part of Open RAN technology. Achieving interoperability between Open RAN components coming from different vendors is more challenging than with classic RAN integrated products. RAN programmability also enables creation of new services, not foreseen at the time of purchase and deployment. The chapter identifies measures taken in the Open RAN ecosystems to overcome the challenges.