While there are distinctions between Open RAN, open virtualized RAN, cloud RAN and further sub-combinations of those architectures, these new approaches to building the radio access network are making inroads in the real world, according to Stefan Pongratz, vice president of research firm Dell’Oro Group. At the moment operators in the Asia Pacific and North American regions—think Rakuten Mobile and Dish which are building greenfield networks using this approach—are leading investments, but that will likely change as we approach 2030 given the massive commitments from multinational European telcos.
