Vodafone is one of the largest telecommunications groups in Europe, and recently started a revolution for the mobile phone industry worldwide. Vodafone has started testing a new technology for mobile telecommunications networks, this being developed together with those from Intel, and it has the name OpenRAN, but what it brings is extremely important for all those who use mobile phones.
Vodafone, like many other telecommunications operators around the world, uses equipment produced by other companies, and technologies developed by them, which are protected by patents. What Vodafone and Intel want to do is to implement a new standard, open to anyone, which would substantially reduce the costs for creating mobile networks, but also the costs of the current ones.
Vodafone Starts a REVOLUTION for Phones in Europe
Vodafone implemented OpenRAN in Turkey, where it uses the technology for 2G and 4G networks, but recently implemented it as a test including in Great Britain, a very important market for the group. Today, 120 rural areas in Great Britain are going to have the system for Vodafone's network active, and after this launch the tests will be extended including in Congo and Mozambique, countries where it can probably be tested more easily.
"Vodafone is testing innovative open access radio technology in the UK - a first for Europe - in a move that could tighten the grip that Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia have on the telecoms equipment market. OpenRAN, which was developed by Vodafone and Intel, standardizes the design of the hardware and software in the infrastructure, masts and antennas that make up the radio access network that carries mobile calls and data."
Vodafone seems to be so satisfied with this technology that it is expanding it globally, so it is quite clear that there are no higher costs than for traditional technologies, but on the contrary, they could be lower. OpenRAN can still help smaller operators launch networks and expand coverage at much lower costs, Vodafone being the largest telecommunications group to integrate the technology into large public networks.
Vodafone could also use OpenRAN to improve the security of its networks, and this in the context in which Huawei has been marginalized by most of the world because of these serious problems.
