Nokia and Vodafone have successfully completed an end-to-end Open RAN trial on Vodafone Italy’s live 5G standalone network. The trial utilized Nokia’s AirScale Massive MIMO radios and Nokia’s baseband software running on Dell PowerEdge XR8000 servers and Red Hat OpenShift, an industry leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes, connected to Nokia’s standalone dedicated 5G core. It also used Nokia’s intelligent MantaRay Networks Management system for a consolidated network view and improved monitoring and management.

Nokia is supporting Open Fronthaul features on top of its high-performance RAN software which ensures mobile operators have performance consistency with their existing RAN. Nokia has already integrated with five open radio unit (O-RU) suppliers highlighting the openness and industry-leading performance of Nokia’s AirScale O-RAN DU/CU. The solution offers operators enhanced flexibility, efficiency, and scalability in their mobile networks. By integrating with Red Hat OpenShift, service providers also have the option to scale their 5G network footprint and quickly introduce new services.

Vodafone aims to have 30 percent of its masts based on Open RAN technology by 2030 in Europe and is already deploying the technology commercially. This includes 2,500 Open RAN sites in the UK, the first large-scale deployment in Europe, as well as in Romania. By partnering with key strategic vendors like Nokia, Vodafone is pioneering the wider adoption of open, disaggregated, and automated networks, providing greater agility to quickly adopt and launch innovative new customer-focused services.