Samsung Electronics has announced that it is collaborating with the telecom company, Orange, to disaggregate the software and hardware elements of traditional RAN. The tech giant will provide its virtualized RAN (vRAN), "which has been proven in the field through commercial deployments with global Tier one operators including the U.S.", for the operation.
Executive Vice President, Head of Global States & Marketing, Network Business at Samsung Electronics, Woojune Kim stated:
We are pleased to participate in Orange’s innovative laboratory. Through this collaboration, we look forward to taking networks to new heights in the European market, enabling operators to offer more immersive mobile services to their users.
Orange is responsible for providing mobile services to 222 million users in 26 countries along with Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Through this partnership, Samsung and Orange aim to deploy O-RAN Alliance-compliant base stations beginning with rural and indoor configurations and then, expanding to new deployments in the future.
Senior Vice President of Radi9 Access Networks and microwaves at Orange, Arnaud Vamparys stated:
Open RAN is a major evolution of radio access that requires deeper cooperation within the industry. With our European peers, we want to accelerate the development of Open RAN solutions that meet our needs. After the publication of common specifications, Orange’s Open RAN Integration Center will support the development and tuning of solutions from a broad variety of actors.
At Orange's Open RAN Integration Center in Châtillon, Paris, the group will organize and carry out trials to substantiate the performance and potential of Samsung's vRAN, radio, and Massive MIMO radio.
