The global telecom industry and its customers could be in store for some big Open RAN-based benefits in the near future, agreed an expert panel at Rakuten Optimism 2022, Rakuten’s largest annual business conference.
“We have an ecosystem today that’s quite consolidated, particularly in the United States, and so it would be welcome to have a more diverse supplier base,” William Kennard, Chairman of AT&T and a former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commented. A shift to Open RAN would create “an environment for more innovation, more competition, more investment dollars coming into the sector and from a public policy standpoint, this can have the effect of driving down the cost of infrastructure,” he added, while cautioning that the new technology will require a greater focus on collaboration and integration.
Of course, the appeal of Open RAN technology doesn’t end at innovation and investment. Azita Arvani, North America CEO, Rakuten Symphony, who led the conversation, highlighted the substantial security benefits to operators that come with open architecture, commenting, “Because it’s not a black box, it’s a white box, you can bring in more secure elements. You have more visibility. You have more control, and that control and that visibility is with the operator.”
Ajit Pai, Partner at Searchlight Capital Partners noted that by thinking more broadly about potential radio solutions, mobile operators can “reduce the cost of building these more agile networks, better leverage some of the spectrum assets that are coming to the market and settle some of the security issues by putting the keys to security in the hands of the operator, as opposed to outsourcing it to the vendor.” To get the most out of 5G technology, which is designed to meet the needs of everyone from individual consumers to small businesses to major enterprises, you have to have scalable infrastructure, he added.
In terms of democratizing connectivity, Open RAN could play a huge role, agreed panelists, especially in developing countries where wireless networks could be the only solution. With the reduction in cost which comes with the infrastructure, open RAN tech could lead to the deployment of 5G in many more places around the world. Said Pai, “I’m really excited about the globalization that’s going to come as a result of some of the innovation that Rakuten is leading.”
Read the full session recap on the Rakuten Today blog, here.
Or, register for Rakuten Optimism 2022, to watch the full conversation, here.
