Jury’s still out on Open RAN’s green gains

• TelecomTV has just conducted its second annual Open RAN market perception survey
• We asked the network operator community for their views on a range of Open RAN topics, including the potential energy-efficiency gains from deploying Open RAN technology
• Even the partisan survey respondents still aren’t convinced about this particular claimed benefit

It has long been claimed by its supporters that Open RAN can deliver sustainability gains for mobile operators. But the majority of mobile network operators are yet to be convinced of such claims, according to the results of a TelecomTV survey of telco executives that we’ve published in our new, 15-page, free-to-download, Open RAN Market Perception Report 2025.

Various claims have been made over the years for Open RAN, one of which has been that open, disaggregated, multivendor radio access network (RAN) deployments can be more energy efficient than traditional RAN systems for a number of reasons, one being that the open interfaces allow operators to deploy innovative third-party radio units that are less power hungry than existing products.   

But most mobile operators are still not convinced about such claims. 

In our recent Open RAN-focused market perception survey of mobile operators, we asked a range of questions, the first of which was ‘Is Open RAN a positive telecom industry development?’ The response was overwhelming, with 93% of our 70 respondents saying ‘Yes’.

Despite the overwhelming positivity about Open RAN in general among the respondents, that sentiment didn’t carry over when we asked ‘Will Open RAN systems help network operators to become more energy efficient?’

As you can see from the chart above, only 47% of our respondents believe Open RAN networks offer energy-efficiency gains, while the same percentage are not sure, though only 6% don’t currently believe Open RAN can reduce comparative RAN power consumption. 

When we asked the same question a year ago, there were more naysayers, with 17% voting ‘No’ in our 2024 poll, so while there is a slight shift away from the pessimistic end of the scale, overall our network operators are largely unconvinced by Open RAN’s green network prowess. 

In the survey, we also once again asked which vendors are regarded by telcos as the Open RAN market leaders and, once again, Mavenir prevailed, ahead of Fujitsu and Nokia – see Mavenir retains its Open RAN vendor crown.

We also asked our telco executive respondents questions about Open RAN deployment timelines, which network operators are regarded as Open RAN pioneers, the potential of Open RAN to broaden the scope of the vendor ecosystem, and more. You can download the report for free now! 

All of our DSP Leaders reports, which cover a broad range of telecom sector topics, are free to download – you can find them all here. 

And for the latest developments in Open RAN, check out our dedicated Open RAN channel. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV