{"id":27283,"date":"2021-06-08T14:14:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T13:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=27283"},"modified":"2021-06-08T14:18:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T13:18:05","slug":"vodafone-uk-switches-on-2-new-4g-openran-sites-in-cornwall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/06\/vodafone-uk-switches-on-2-new-4g-openran-sites-in-cornwall.html","title":{"rendered":"Vodafone UK Switches on 2 New 4G OpenRAN Sites in Cornwall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mobile operator Vodafone<\/a> has today announced that they’ve switched on two new rural 4G<\/a> Open Radio Access Network (OpenRAN) sites in Cornwall – Fistral Beach in Newquay and the community of St Keverne on The Lizard. The two locations are only the second and third such sites to go live on their UK network.<\/p>\n

At present if a mobile operator wants to buy new network kit then they can usually only pick from a handful of big suppliers (Nokia, Ericsson etc.). The O-RAN approach seeks to standardise the design and functionality of such kit and software, thus increasing the number of companies able to supply them via vendor-neutral hardware and software-defined technology (the RAN side includes infrastructure, masts and antennae).<\/p>\n

Last year Vodafone<\/a> became the first operator to announce plans for a major UK rollout of O-RAN to upgrade 2,600 sites (here<\/a>), mostly in rural Wales and South West England. But the full deployment of that won’t actually start until 2022 and will then run until 2027, which is because the ecosystem (suppliers, kit, software etc.) around this is still developing, and they need to foster more suppliers.<\/p>\n