According to a recently published Dell’Oro Group's Open RAN Advanced Research Report, covering market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, the broader Open RAN movement has come a long way in just a few years, but the results have been mixed.
Open radio access network – Open RAN in short – is an ongoing shift in mobile network architectures that enables service providers the use of non-proprietary subcomponents from a variety of vendors.
“Open RAN is happening, but this vision that Open RAN will significantly change the vendor dynamics is fading,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President of RAN market research at the Dell’Oro Group. “With most of the leading RAN suppliers now committed to the latest O-RAN fronthaul interfaces, the question now is more about the timing and the adoption curve for the various RAN segments,” added Pongratz.
Additional highlights from the August 2024 Open RAN Report:
- The long-term position remains favorable and mostly unchanged. Despite ongoing challenges, most operators will gradually incorporate more openness, virtualization, intelligence, and automation into their RAN roadmaps. The pace will differ slightly between the radios and the baseband, while the multi-vendor RAN business case is less compelling.
- The estimates for open RAN, Cloud RAN, and Multi-vendor RAN are mostly unchanged relative to the February update. By 2028, they are expected to account for >25 percent, 20 to 25 percent, and <10 percent of the total RAN market, respectively.
- The forecast is more favorable outside of China, with Open RAN projected to comprise 30 to 40 percent of the revenues by 2028.
- North America was the largest region in 2023 and is expected to lead the broader Open RAN movement throughout the forecast period.
- North America stumbled in 2023 but is set to lead the Open RAN market over the forecast period.
- After a slow start, Europe is projected to account for 15 to 20 percent of worldwide Open RAN revenues by 2028.
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