Orange and Vodafone Partner on Open RAN Sharing

Large European operators Orange and Vodafone Group agreed to share open RAN networks in rural parts of the region where both operate. The pilot project is set to take place in Romania later this year.

Two companies stated the agreement was the first time they had agreed to share open RAN, one which reinforced their respective commitments to approach their choice for mobile networks across Europe. The first commercial site covered by the agreement will be in a rural area of Romania, providing an “initial real-life experience“ of the model for integrating multi-vendor hardware and software, paving the way for wider-scale deployments in other markets.

Orange and Vodafone added they are also working to individually select strategic vendors for the initial build phase. Explaining the rationale behind the push, the pair stated open RAN unlocked significant advantages over traditional network sharing, providing greater flexibility when adding new or upgrading existing radio sites, while keeping cost and energy consumption low.

The hype around open RAN continues to grow: news of the agreement comes after both operators contributed to a report outlining targets for advancing the ecosystem for the rest of 2023 produced with fellow European players Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, and Telefonica. Orange CTIO Michael Trabbia said open RAN sharing represents a major step towards agile and fully-automated networks, while Vodafone chief network officer Alberto Ripepi outlined the cost benefits.