Vodafone’s network laboratory in Ciudad Real will become the operator's first testbed for Open RAN (open radio access network) technology in the world. The company opened this centre in 2019 in collaboration with its traditional providers, including brands such as Nokia and Ericsson. It will now also be used to analyse different solutions that are being created around this technology, which aims to build more agile and flexible mobile networks through an open architecture approach.

Since its inception, the aim of creating this laboratory has been to boost 5G network performance in the early stages of deployment. Now that this stage is already fully operational, this work will be complemented by testing Open RAN solutions that aim to improve mobile network performance.

Progressing on the same path
Ciudad Real is thus becoming a key centre for 5G network providers and companies that wish to do research in the Open RAN ecosystem. Being able to work in an area of 75,000 inhabitants with 4G and 5G coverage allows them to compare their results and to progress on the same path.

Santiago Tenorio, Network Architecture Director at the Vodafone Group, states unequivocally that “Open RAN technology, in which Vodafone is currently a pioneer, is very important and maturing very quickly and we, as a communications technology company, play a key role in the integration of all components.”

Possible avenues of improvement
As a first step in the venture the Open RAN providers that work globally with Vodafone have joined the laboratory, these being MTI, Mavenir, Samsung and Dell Technologies. Their mission consists of conducting trials to identify possible avenues of improvement in the implementation of the 4G and 5G radio access interface, in both traditional and new providers, and to detect strengths and weaknesses in them.

The trials at the Castile-La Mancha centre will include testing the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), which analyses the use of radio technology through the third-party applications that go to form it. This is an excellent example of the collaboration referred to in the concept of open architecture. In addition, energy efficiency measures will be tested by monitoring the energy consumption of the base station and making comparisons between the providers working at the laboratory. 

Network improvement at European level
Julia Velasco, Network Director at Vodafone Spain, explains that the Ciudad Real laboratory “is the first testbed in the world where new providers can develop their Open RAN solutions, with the aim of achieving greater efficiency, cost saving and network improvement at European level.”

Since 2017, Vodafone has been involved in accelerating the pace of innovation in the telecommunications industry through the creation of Open RAN solutions. At the beginning of 2020, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with leading European operators to guarantee the availability of different solutions for deployment in Europe. The five main European operators recently called on political leaders to urgently prioritise the Open RAN network, which, they say, will ensure that Europe continues to play a leading role in 5G and, in the future, 6G.

^{Photo: Vodafone}