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What’s the best way to get to Open RAN?

Last Updated: May 25, 2021

There are multiple migration paths to Open RAN. Each operator has the flexibility to pick the path best suited to its needs and what is available and cost effective in its network. This paper compares the TCO for two operator cases. In the first case, the operator has access to low-cost transport and may own a fiber network that reaches most of its macro cell sites. In the second case, the operator is in the opposite situation: it faces high transport costs and limited fiber availability at the macro cell sites. This is likely to change over the next few years, but the operator does not want to wait until then to deploy Open RAN. How should the adoption of Open RAN differ in the two cases? And what does this tell us about all the operators that find themselves in a midway situation?

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