Samsung and O2 Telefónica: Advancing vRAN and Open RAN
O2 Telefónica and Samsung Electronics are accelerating the shift towards Open RAN and virtualized RAN (vRAN) networks, having recently launched their first commercial vRAN and Open RAN site in the Bavarian town of Landsberg am Lech in Germany.
This inaugural site deployment marks a major milestone in the companies’ collaboration to develop and test Open RAN technologies, first announced in October 2023. Following a series of extensive trials, O2 Telefónica – one of Europe’s leading telcos – and Samsung are now progressing from lab to field with the launch of this first commercial site.
“We are taking another big step in our Open RAN journey,” says Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer of O2 Telefónica. “Together with Samsung, we are utilising the latest Open RAN technologies in our mobile network. On the way to the network of the future, we are integrating new network solutions to provide our customers with outstanding connectivity. Open RAN is a building block that can help us to automate our network, deploy new updates faster and use network components more flexibly.”
What is Open RAN?
Open RAN is an industry movement embracing open interfaces and virtualized radio access network (RAN) solutions, breaking from the proprietary, integrated RAN systems that have traditionally dominated mobile networks.
With Open RAN, mobile operators can mix and match RAN software and hardware components from different vendors using open interfaces. This enables greater supplier diversity and flexibility compared to closed, vertically integrated RAN offerings.
A key enabling technology for Open RAN is virtualized RAN (vRAN), which shifts baseband processing from dedicated hardware appliances to software running on commercial off-the-shelf servers.
vRAN facilitates a cloud-native RAN architecture that operators can more easily automate, scale and upgrade. This allows mobile providers to roll out new features and capacity more rapidly.
The low-latency capabilities of vRAN also better support cutting-edge 5G services like augmented/virtual reality and ultra-reliable low-latency communications for enterprises.
Samsung's Advanced vRAN and Open RAN Solutions
For the initial Open RAN sites in Germany, Samsung is providing O2 Telefónica with its market-proven 4G/5G vRAN 3.0 software and O-RAN-compliant radio units spanning low and mid-band spectrum.
This includes Samsung's latest energy-efficient and high-performance 64T64R Massive MIMO radios. The companies plan to introduce Samsung's intelligent, O-RAN-based automation tools to streamline deployment and operations across the vRAN/Open RAN footprint.
Samsung has already commercialised Open RAN and vRAN at scale across multiple leading operators globally. This gives O2 Telefónica a head start by tapping into Samsung's pre-integrated, validated ecosystem and solution engineering expertise as they modernise Germany's mobile infrastructure.
Looking ahead, O2 Telefónica aims to expand its Open RAN deployment to seven additional sites in the Munich region over the coming months, laying the foundation for delivering more automated, flexible and efficient mobile services.
“Samsung is setting new standards for excellence in the telecommunications industry with our innovative vRAN and Open RAN capabilities,” comments Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics. “Celebrating Telefónica’s 100th anniversary, we are proud to be the key partner for O2 Telefónica on their trailblazing journey to usher in a new era of connectivity in Germany.”
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