MTN, Accenture Conclude OpenRAN Trial as It Eyes Network Shift

MTN Group and Accenture have concluded a proof-of-concept OpenRAN trial that the two companies co-developed.

According to a statement by Accenture on Wednesday, trials of the solution were conducted on MTN’s network in South Africa and Nigeria.

“An initial trial phase exploring OpenRAN solutions was conducted in MTN South Africa’s lab, prior to the live site deployment,” said Nitesh Singh, communication, media and technology leader at Accenture.

“This project provided us with an opportunity to share our experience with MTN through the Rakuten communications platform, and to jointly create the next-generation network that will set new standards for future mobile communications in South Africa and across the continent.”

OpenRAN standards are developed by two main industry bodies, the O-RAN Alliance and the Telecom Infra Project

Operators around the world are experimenting with OpenRAN architectures as these would help decouple the components in the parts of the network connecting a user’s device to the nearest tower, preventing vendor lock-in and potentially reducing costs.

OpenRAN standards are developed by two main industry bodies, the O-RAN Alliance and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP).

The O-RAN Alliance was founded by five companies – AT&T, Orange, NTT Docomo, China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom – and has the most comprehensive body of OpenRAN standards available.

Telecom Infra Project members include operators as well as service providers, technology partners, systems integrators and other stakeholders, including Intel and Facebook.

OpenRAN technology has seen significant boosts in investment in the US following allegations by US officials that Chinese radio equipment manufacturer Huawei places backdoors and spyware into its networking kit, allegations the company has strenuously denied.

The US and EU have subsequently banned Huawei equipment from mobile networks in the two regions, exacerbating the need for open standards in the access network.

“MTN is committed to exploring innovative technological solutions to reduce the costs and deliver greater value to our customers. We are confident that in time, OpenRAN holds the potential to allow us to lower the total cost of ownership … and unlock the benefits of cloud-native deployments with greater flexibility and scalability,” said Amith Maharaj, technology executive for MTN Group