Mobile operators are reportedly set to invest more than USD 30 billion in open radio access (RAN) networks worldwide by 2030. The move represents a CAGR of 24 per cent of the period, as per the latest report. An open RAN is said to be made possible by a set of industry-wide standards which could be followed by telecom suppliers when they produce the related equipment.
About Open RAN
Open RAN is a new way to build a 4G or 5G network for smart devices, which will reduce the total cost of deployment, enabling operational simplicity and increasing the velocity of the new features which are being rolled out with the concept of cloud that will effectively be used. An Open RAN solution will further increase the flexibility and innovation in the network as well.
How did the Open RAN network grow?
Open RAN networks have increased in recent years when it comes to investments. It is driven primarily by greenfield network operators located in the Asia-Pacific and North American regions, as per the Counterpoint Research.
However, by following this period of rapid network build-outs, the greenfield operators have been looking to lower capex in 2023 and 2024 which will focus on network monetization.
Some Tier-1 operators, majorly Vodafone, have reportedly announced the major plans for deploying open RAN recently. Most of the brownfield network operators will remain very cautious about the additional investments in the 5G infrastructure- majorly when it is run on Open RAN, which is due to the uncertain macroeconomic climate.
As a result, the Open RAN market will become steady during this (2023) and the next year (2024).
Investments for open RAN will increase YoY after 2025
The report stated, “Investments will start to increase YoY after 2025 with network operators investing a cumulative total of more than $30 billion between 2022 and 2030.”
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Although the North American and Asia-Pacific regions will remain the largest Open RAN markets for the forecast period majorly. Europe is reportedly expected to record the fastest growth with a CAGR of 108 per cent between 2023 to 2030 as its Tier-1s will finally start with the commercial deployments at scale, driven partly by the need to replace the legacy of Chinese 3G and 4G networks.
The Open RAN-compliant radio market has been dominated by Fujitsu, NEC and Asian vendors Samsung to date.
However, the research of Counterpoint expects the market share to be impacted much higher during the forecasted period (2023 to 2030) - as other incumbents start offering Open RAN-compliant solutions
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Inputs from IANS
