Samsung Electronics said O2 Telefonica has launched its first virtualized RAN (vRAN) and Open RAN commercial site in Germany.
The site – powered by Samsung’s 5G vRAN solution — is now operating in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, providing 4G and 5G services to customers.
O2 Telefonica, which reported revenue of EUR 8.6 billion in Germany in 2023, will expand the vRAN and Open RAN network to seven sites in the region, aiming to further extend the Open RAN footprint.
“We are utilizing the latest Open RAN technologies in our mobile network. We are integrating network solutions to provide our customers with outstanding connectivity. Open RAN is a building block that can help us to automate our network, deploy new updates faster and use network components flexibly,” said Mallik Rao, Chief Technology & Information Officer of O2 Telefonica.
The companies have switched on this first commercial site just three months after the initial shipment of 4G and 5G solutions, leveraging Samsung’s pre-validated ecosystem proven from large-scale commercial vRAN and Open RAN deployments across the globe.
For the initial deployments, Samsung’s offering includes its 4G and 5G vRAN 3.0 solution and O-RAN compliant radios supporting low- and mid-bands (700MHz, 800MHz, 1.8GHz 2.1GHz, 2.6GHz and 3.6GHz), including 64T64R Massive MIMO radios. Samsung’s advanced vRAN 3.0 features enhanced capabilities for improved energy efficiency, optimized performance and intelligent automation.
“Samsung is setting new standards for excellence in the telecommunications industry with our innovative vRAN and Open RAN capabilities,” said Junehee Lee, Executive Vice President, Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.
O2 Telefonica will add Samsung’s intelligent network automation solutions to control life cycle management — from deployment and operation to maintenance. This O-RAN compliant automation solution offers the ability to accelerate innovative software-based network rollouts by enabling automated deployment of thousands of network sites simultaneously.
