Tareq Amin on the open future of mobile telecoms
Source: The Economist
Networks based on open standards can cut costs, improve security and boost competition, says the CEO of Rakuten Symphony
12/17/2021 10:53:00 PM
There’s a new technology that will “sweep across the world in 2022”, says Tareq Amin. He explains what OpenRAN is, how it works, and why it’s important Networks based on open standards can cut costs, improve security and boost competition, says the CEO of Rakuten Symphony
MOBILE-TELECOMS revolution is under way—one reminiscent of the way personal computers replaced mainframes in the 1980s, and cloud-based apps are replacing traditional software today. OpenRAN, a new way of building mobile networks, will transform the telecoms industry by cutting costs, improving security and boosting competition. This new technology will sweep across the world in 2022.
This approach has many advantages over the traditional, proprietary way of doing things. The first is lower costs: in our experience, a reduction of 30-40% in capital expenditure and operating costs for 4G networks, and as much as 50% for 5G networks. In Japan, known for its costly mobile-network charges, this has enabled us to cut the average monthly bill by 60%. More than 4 million customers have signed up in the past year, despite the pandemic, which hampered the operation of many of our bricks-and-mortar stores.
OpenRAN provides a way to depoliticise the roll-out of 5GOpenRANnetworks cost less to run because many of the proprietary infrastructure components are replaced by software, at a fraction of the price. Network operators no longer need large teams of engineers to deploy and maintain their base stations. In our network, new sites are brought on air automatically and updates are carried out remotely via software.
Second, OpenRAN networks are safer and more secure than proprietary technology. Their open architecture lets operators decide what they put in their networks. No single vendor controls the system. We know exactly what is going into our network—and, for the record, we use no Chinese equipment. The open architecture makes it easy to respond to any problems by switching out software or hardware. Our network has no black boxes.
Little wonder, then, that OpenRAN faces opposition from entrenched incumbents. Some claim that our new technology consumes more energy than traditional systems, for example. In fact the opposite is true. Because it is software-based, an Open RAN network can be flexibly scaled to meet demand, optimising energy consumption. When demand is high, it scales up to handle it, and when demand is low at night, it scales down. And as data centres become steadily more energy-efficient, so does the network. Sceptics also suggest that Open RANnetworks do not work in cities. But our network serves subscribers in some of the largest and densest cities in the world: Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. In early 2022 we aim to cover 96% of Japan’s population with 4G. Independent research found that our network in Tokyo outperformed comparable networks in Berlin, London and Rome.
Our network relies on equipment from a range of suppliers, including radio-access technology from Nokia, routers and switches from Cisco and other hardware. The software was provided by Altiostar (recently acquired by Rakuten) and Robin.io. Rakuten has established a new division, called Symphony, to bring together these parts and share our expertise with network operators in other countries. By the end of 2022, we hope more telecoms firms around the world will be singing along to Open RAN.
https://headtopics.com/us/...-open-future-of-mobile-telecoms-22886836 |
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