Viavi predicts expansion of Open RAN in LatAm from 2H23

Viavi sees an opportunity in Latin America with the migration of 4G networks to 5G and predicts an expansion of Open RAN starting in the second half of 2023.

“I have no doubt that Open RAN is the technology of the future,” Everton Souza (in photo), Viavi's account manager and Latin America wireless pre-sales specialist, told BNamericas.

Arizona-based Viavi offers network testing, monitoring and assurance solutions for telecommunications networks. The company is working on Open RAN trials with operators in Peru and Brazil, among others.

Souza said new players like Mavenir, Parallel Wireless and Fujitsu are pushing Open RAN in Latin America but, so far, mainly in the lab or on small networks.

"The operators have already begun to share and create an [Open RAN] strategy to verify what will be the best composition in relation to the providers, the performance and the compatibility that they will have with existing networks," he said.

Viavi expects the first commercial networks for the second half of 2023 with 4G and 5G Open RAN equipment.

The largest deployment of Open RAN to date in Latin America is being done by Tigo in Colombia for its 4G services. Telefónica, one of the biggest promoters of Open RAN in the region, expects to deploy it on a large scale in 2023 and 2024.

A Viavi report indicates that as of March 64 operators around the world had announced their participation in the development of Open RAN. Of these, 23 have been deployed and 34 are in the testing phase. Another seven have announced that they are in a phase prior to testing.

In Latin America, the first 5G networks are already beginning to be deployed, although with traditional equipment. In Brazil, the activation of the first autonomous networks in the 3.5GHz band is expected this year.

Most 5G networks are being deployed non-autonomously. Only 24 networks around the globe were using a 5G network core, according to Viavi.

The region also has some 5G experiences taking advantage of dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS).

However, Souza said that by sharing spectrum with 4G, DSS results in a worse user experience than if that same spectrum were aggregated and fully utilized for 4G.

At the end of January, 72 countries globally had 5G networks. In the Americas there are 419 cities covered with the latest mobile technology.