• AT&T shows Mavenir and Fujitsu some Open RAN love
• Wind River replaces VMware at Boost (Dish Wireless)

In today’s industry news roundup: AT&T adds to its Open RAN vendor roster; Boost Mobile ditches VMware in favour of Wind River; and much more!

AT&T used its analyst and investor day on Tuesday to provide an update on its Open RAN plans, which up to now have mostly been focused on how the US operator is working with Ericsson following the five-year, $14bn deal announced a year ago: AT&T plans to have 70% of its 5G network traffic flowing “across open hardware” by late 2026. In a blog authored by Rob Soni, VP of RAN technology, and Todd Zeiler, VP of wireless engineering and construction, the telco noted that it has struck new deals with Fujitsu and Mavenir for the provision of Open RAN-ready radios that will be used in “crowded urban areas” to improve coverage and performance in cities. The radios will be “open C-band radios (TDD 4T4R) and dual band radios (B25/B66 FDD 4T4R), which can be attached to existing utility and light poles. They can often be hidden, making them virtually unseen from street level,” noted the operator, adding that it continues to “look for opportunities to bring additional third-party radios into the network when needed.” For Fujitsu, the deal cements its Open RAN relationship with AT&T – it was already named as a radio unit supplier as part of the Ericsson deal and during a recent interview with TelecomTV conducted at the Fyuz24 event in Dublin, Soni discussed how AT&T plans to introduce the vendor’s radio technology into its network. For Mavenir, the news comes as a boost, albeit a relatively small one, as it looks for ways to secure its future as a competitive vendor. And it means Mavenir will be working directly with a key rival in the form of Ericsson, as the new compact radio units will be managed by the Swedish vendor’s service management and orchestration (SMO) platform, which the giant wireless equipment firm has dubbed the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP). That SMO system, which includes Ericsson’s non-real time RAN intelligent controller (RIC) platform, is critical to AT&T’s ability to replace legacy RAN equipment and install new radios “without missing a beat”, noted AT&T. The operator also highlighted the crucial role that rApps (which run on non-real time RIC platforms), whether they are developed by AT&T or third parties, will play in achieving “better network performance, wider coverage [and] cost efficiency,” and fostering innovation. These rApps “are expected to play a critical role in managing and sustaining third-party radio innovation opportunities,” stated AT&T. You can find out more about the role of the SMO, RIC platforms and their associated apps in the free-to-download, 36-page DSP Leaders report, Open RAN: Advances in the RAN Intelligent Controller.

Still with Mavenir (sort of)... Recent industry gossip suggested that Mavenir might be in line for a significant investment from Aramco Digital, the Saudi technology firm that hired Open RAN evangelist Tareq Amin as its CEO late last year. But if any such investment is to happen, it seemingly won’t have Amin pulling the strings as he is no longer at Aramco Digital, according to his LinkedIn profile. Instead, he is the CEO of an as yet unidentified company. The update led to some immediate speculation that Amin might be installed at Mavenir as part of such a deal, but he has confirmed to TelecomTV that he will not be joining the vendor and that he will reveal his new role in the new year. 

And back with AT&T… The company ran through its expectations for network expansion, investments, savings and earnings for the next few years during its investor day. This roundup from financial news firm Benzinga covers the bases. Overall the mood of the AT&T executive team was positive and investors clearly liked what they heard because AT&T’s share price gained nearly 4.6% in value by the end of trading on Tuesday to reach $23.74.  

Here’s a really compelling industry development that anyone interested in Open RAN deployments – or, in fact, any virtualised network deployment – will be watching closely… Boost Mobile, the US alternative 5G operator formerly known as Dish Wireless, is swapping out its existing containers-as-a-service (CaaS) vendor, VMware, for Wind River’s Studio Operator platform in what looks like a massive undertaking. Boost Mobile “has been and continues to be the world leader in developing and operationalising a carrier-grade cloud-native Open RAN 5G network at a national scale,” said Eben Albertyn, the operator’s CTO. “Boost Mobile is beyond proving Open RAN technology works, and is now applying component interchangeability through our new engagement with Wind River. We continue to evaluate performance and the cost effectiveness of our network components, and can rapidly pivot to new and different solutions,” added Albertyn in this announcement. The potential for component interchangeability is a key argument in favour of Open RAN, so if this goes well, it might draw the interest of others that would like that kind of option in their networks. As for why Boost Mobile is making this move, that has not been articulated publicly, but VMware is believed to have effectively disbanded the team that deals exclusively with telco customers, leaving the likes of Boost with a support issue, among other challenges it seems. There are other implications for this move as well, which we’ll get into in future reporting on TelecomTV.  

– The staff, TelecomTV