AT&T Labs has successfully completed the first Open Radio Access Network (RAN) call using third-party radios over AT&T’s commercial network, the company announced in a blog post today.
Ericsson and 1Finity Collaborated with AT&T for the project.
According to AT&T, the success of the solution involving multiple vendors shows the interoperability and flexibility Open RAN brings to their network. They said this demonstrates how critical collaboration is for developing open, programmable networks.
AT&T said it is looking to transition from a closed, proprietary network architecture to a fully open and programmable network with Open RAN. The transition would allow for greater flexibility, speed, and choice for consumers.
“Since announcing our plan to modernize our wireless network, we’ve made significant progress,” AT&T said in their blog post about the Open RAN project.
“To date, we’ve already completed nearly 40% of our overall swap program from Nokia radios to Ericsson. Additionally, we’ve added valuable mid-band (N77) spectrum to over 15,000 sites which deliver increased speeds and a greatly improved wireless experience for our customers. This accomplishment is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams. And this achievement isn’t just a technical milestone — it’s a clear signal that the future of wireless will be open, agile, and innovation-driven.”
Two years ago, AT&T said it would upgrade 70% of its mobile network to Open RAN technology by 2026. The company said it would work with Ericsson for the deployments, an investment estimated at $14 billion over AT&T’s five-year contract with Ericsson.
AT&T isn’t the only carrier looking to expand Open RAN access. Earlier this year, Verizon announced it had deployed more than 130,000 Open RAN capable radios, including massive MIMO radios.
Open RAN disaggregates RAN functionality by using open interfaces between network elements. The technology can be software-defined and can be implemented in vendor-neutral hardware.
