Operator progress towards vRAN and multi-vendor Open RAN deployments: survey results and analysis

This report is based on the key findings from a survey of 64 Tier-1 and Tier-2 mobile-only or converged telecoms operators that was conducted in 4Q 2023. The findings demonstrate that the next few years will be critical for vRAN and Open RAN, and it is vital that stakeholders work towards solving the challenges and proving the commercial benefits of both single-vendor and multi-vendor Open RAN.

This report provides:

• insight into the progress of vRAN and Open RAN adoption, and the timelines operators have for deploying closed vRAN, single-vendor Open RAN and multi-vendor Open RAN
• a discussion of the challenges associated with each of the architectures 
• analysis relating to the commercial objectives that operators want to achieve from their RAN, vRAN and Open RAN deployments
• evaluation of the strengths of vRAN and Open RAN architectures and how their deployment timelines could be accelerated or postponed.

Key questions answered in this report

• How quickly will operators adopt different architectures (closed vRAN, NEP single-vendor Open RAN, challenger single-vendor Open RAN and multi-vendor Open RAN)?
• What are the main challenges of vRAN and open RAN adoption and commercial deployment?
• What are operators’ major commercial objectives relating to the RAN, and how can Open RAN and vRAN architecture support them?
• What are the timescales for multi-vendor Open RAN and what efforts should be made to accelerate plans and ensure openness?