On November 18, 2021, Europe's leading telecom providers, such as Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Telefónica and others, published a joint paper on the topic: 5G / OpenRAN for Europe. The remarkable thing here is that siticom has managed to emerge here as THE integrator for Europe!
(Source: BUILDING AN OPEN RAN ECOSYSTEM FOR EUROPE, page 16)
This report is based on the findings of independent TMT management consultancy Analysys Mason and calls on policy makers, EU Member States and industry stakeholders to work together and urgently prioritize the Open Radio Access Network (OpenRAN). This will ensure that Europe continues to play a leading role in 5G and, in the future, 6G.
An open, intelligent, virtualized and fully interoperable radio access network is a necessary condition for Europe to achieve the goal of 5G for all in 2030. This will help create stronger and more resilient supply chains and platforms, and promote digital autonomy and continued technology leadership. New open and decomposed architecture, software and hardware (such as OpenRAN) will enable operators to flexibly extend 5G to more users in a cost-effective, secure and energy-efficient manner. This flexibility will stimulate more innovation across industries in areas such as telemedicine and smart factory.
It is important that the EU works together here to maintain its competitiveness, technological leadership and resilience, otherwise Europe risks falling behind North America and Asia in the development and deployment of next-generation networks.
It also lists five policy recommendations that can narrow the gap with other international regions to create a vibrant ecosystem of European participants and provide the foundation for future mobile communications:
Ensure high-level political support for OpenRAN
European Alliance for Next Generation Communications Infrastructures and a roadmap for innovation
Policy makers should offer and support financial and fiscal incentives to operators, vendors and start-ups
Promote European leadership in standardization
Collaborate with international partners
Currently, European vendors are not represented in all six major technology and service categories that make up the OpenRAN value chain, such as cloud hardware. They also outnumber non-European vendors in semiconductors. Implementing the report's recommendations would give a boost to domestic, smaller suppliers and strengthen European leadership in this important technology, which would also have a positive impact on adjacent industries such as cloud and microelectronics.
The report concludes that Europe needs to include OpenRAN as a pillar in its industrial policy and Digital Compass strategy and underpin it with the right policy framework. This will have a positive impact on other key technology areas such as cloud, software and chipsets, and contribute significantly to the broader technological ambitions of a digital Europe.
Source:
Deutsche Telekom, Europe urged to act now to build Open RAN Ecosystem
Vodafone, Building an Open RAN Ecosystem for Europe (PDF)