Virgin Media O2 Pick Mavenir for its UK Open RAN Mobile Rollout

Broadband and mobile giant O2 (VMO2) has today chosen Mavenir to supply its UK rollout of Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technology. The supplier will also act as the prime integrator, providing its Open virtualised Radio Access Network (Open vRAN) solution for sites on VMO2’s mobile network.

O-RAN technology seeks to standardise the design and functionality of radio access hardware and software, thus increasing the number of companies able to supply operators via vendor-neutral 4G and 5G hardware and software-defined technology (the RAN side covers infrastructure, masts and antennae). This may also help to cut costs and remove some of the necessity to depend upon the largest suppliers of such kit (e.g. Nokia and Ericsson).

Mavenir’s Open vRAN solution is designed to be cloud-native, with fully containerised microservices allowing it to be deployed on any cloud. Mavenir’s Open vRAN O-RAN compliant solution works on open interfaces supporting O-RAN Split 7.2x and Split 2.

The suppliers O-RAN system will consist of fully virtualised L1, L2 vRAN SW and will operate on Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, along with Intel vRAN Accelerator ACC100 and Intel 800 series Ethernet adapters. The delivery will also feature Mavenir’s OpenBeam™ Radios including massive MIMO, 3rd party O-RAN based Radio Units (O-RU) for open Fronthaul, network monitoring and optimisation.

Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at VMO2, said:

“Through digitalising our networks, we’re seamlessly integrating our infrastructure to get more value from our existing assets. Extending our collaboration with Mavenir to the RAN for the first time will help us establish a future-proof Open vRAN architecture, unlocking the benefits of a multi-vendor open interface while allowing us to rapidly benefit from an end-to-end network solution.”

Last year also saw VMO2 conduct their first O-RAN field deployment in part of Northamptonshire (England), although that involved kit and systems from NEC and Rakuten Symphony. At the time of writing VMO2 still hasn’t set out a rollout plan for O-RAN in the UK.

All the major UK mobile network operators are currently looking at O-RAN solutions for the future and have even agreed to a “joint ambition” with the government, which will see 35% of the UK’s mobile network traffic being carried over O-RAN by 2030 (here). But Vodafone is the only operator to have started a solid large-scale commercial build (here and here).