Open RAN ‘already a reality’ in LatAm – US firm Mavenir

US telecoms software group Mavenir, one of the major names behind the emerging open RAN (open radio access network) trend, rebuffs claims that the network architecture is yet to mature and consolidate.

“I would say that open RAN is already a reality, it's already happening. We have several open RAN initiatives running around the world and in Latin America,” Antonio Carlos Tostes (pictured), Mavenir’s head of pre-sales for Latin America and southern Europe, told BNamericas.

Created in 2017, the company is trying to break into a market concentrated among only a few traditional telecoms providers.

Tostes does not give details of its regional projects, citing issues of confidentiality. "We already have a relatively large customer base,” he said, without disclosing specific figures. 

He said Mavenir works with the main tier-1 players in Latin America. He also said he sees “lots of interest” from market entrants, such as some of the winners of the 5G auction in Brazil.

“We've focused a lot on Latin America and particularly on Brazil. The focus is to grow significantly in the country in 2022. Our strategy is to increase investments and hire more staff in Brazil [and in the Andean region."

Mavenir recently announced the commercial availability of its Intelligent IoT Platform (IIoTP). The solution applies artificial intelligence (AI) to data collected from IoT sensors.

The company says that the platform offers scalability to support a large number of sensors and to configure multiple devices. Furthermore, data processing can be split between edge cloud and centralized cloud for low latency and reduced data bandwidth requirements, the company claims.

Tostes is also upbeat about the development of edge computing projects in the region to leverage its business model.

DIVERSIFICATION

The premise behind open RAN is basically having open, interoperable and secure telecom networks, with different brands of radio and transport systems connecting a single, orchestrated network.

The idea is to break away from “locked-in” formats, where all the software and hardware comprising a telecoms network are bought from a single provider. In the case of radio access, for example, from Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei. As a result, competition intensifies, products improve and costs fall.

Augusto Pessoa, global technical director at US wireless infrastructure firm QMC Telecom, said at a recent event that the format could reduce capex costs by up to 40% and opex costs by as much as 50% for greenfield networks.

Mavenir works with leading open standards groups such as 3GPP and the Open Ran alliance. It also participates in regional and local initiatives, such as a working group led by the Brazilian government and alliances formed locally by companies to make the format viable, Tostes said.

But the fact is that most open RAN initiatives are still in a trial phase.

In any case, while testing the format, large operators are still wary as there remain various pending issues regarding the feasibility of the architecture.

Gustavo Lima, wireless communication and solutions manager at Brazilian research and development center CPQD, which is involved in different open RAN standardization groups, said last year that one of the immediate challenges is to harmonize certain antenna transmission technologies.

However, Tostes downplayed these integration challenges. He said Mavenir is working on its software and systems with partners, such as systems integrators, and on cloud management with firms like VMware and Red Hat, although it may eventually compete with the latter two firms.

“Basically, being varied, open and best-of-breed is much more strategic [for operators], much better than the old vendor lock-in model, which is very inefficient,” he said.

“We have from the radios to the datacenter part, going through the systems integrators, all forming this ecosystem. Operators understand that they need to change this equation a little bit and optimize their chains because demand is only going to grow and revenues won't go up that much,” he added.