Vodafone Idea shuns traditional tech to cut cost of 5G rollout
Vodafone Idea is exploring both OpenRAN (ORAN) and virtualised RAN (vRAN) technologies to reduce the cost of deployment for its upcoming 5G network. The cash-strapped telco has already begun proof-of-concept (PoC) projects with Korea's Samsung for vRAN and US-based Mavenir Systems for OpenRAN-based 5G network.
People familiar with the matter said Samsung is doing PoCs in 20 sites with Vodafone Idea in Tamil Nadu, while Mavenir is doing a similar project in the Punjab circle.
«Vi is doing 5G trials in various circles with vendors such as Mavenir and Samsung using vRAN and ORAN deployment.
The total cost of ownership or deployment capex will likely be lower on vRAN and ORAN as it allows vendor interoperability. Thus, it could work well for Vi due to its balance sheet constraints,» Ashwinder Sethi, principal at consultancy firm Analysys Mason, told ET.
Samsung is already working with the Vodafone Group for the latter's commercial network in the UK.
In February, this ORAN network partnership was expanded to Vodafone's operations in Germany and Spain. The people said Vodafone Idea is also trying to build on Samsung's global partnership and looking at possible tie-ups in India following the PoC.
Analysts believe with ORAN and vRAN, telcos globally are looking to reduce the cost of ownership compared to the traditional RAN from vendors like Nokia and Ericsson.
vRAN can be considered an intermediary step between ORAN and traditional RAN.
It disaggregates hardware and software, allowing vendor interoperability to some extent. However, it still needs to be fully disaggregated, as in the case of ORAN.
It will include only some network (baseband) functions moving from access to centralised or edge data centres. «This allows for more
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