Operators are starting to plan their roadmaps for 5G virtualised RAN (vRAN), which will require cloud platforms that are highly distributed and have extremely high performance. To achieve an attractive ROI, operators can use the same platforms to address the emerging market for enterprise far edge services, worth USD23.5 billion by 2030.

This report answers the following questions.

• Why do operators need a single horizontal cloud for all vRAN functions?
• What are the challenges associated with building a vRAN cloud?
• How and where should vRAN be supported with edge cloud?
• What is the business case for vRAN cloud? Does it enhance operators’ business case for other edge-based services?
• What are the technology considerations when building a vRAN cloud?

Overview of the benefits of deploying the vRAN cloud, plus the challenges and how operators can overcome them