HFCL, a homegrown telecom gear maker said it has joined the O-RAN Alliance to accelerate innovation in the 5 the generation technology ecosystem. It shall work on contributing to standards that ensure a “true open and multi-vendor RAN network” with an emphasis on front haul brain forming, Near Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), Service Management & Orchestration (SMO) and end to end test specification, the New Delhi based company stated in an official statement.
The statement added that HFCL will also focus on integration and validation of its 5G Macro RU products and solution at plugfests with other members and contributors of the industry alliance. Mahender Nahata, MD, HFCL, said, “We are excited to be a part of the ORAN Alliance and look forward to working with alliance members to realize the benefits of O-RAN”. Open networking based on a well-defined architecture and pre-validated solution will enable operators to have an increased supplier diversity, accelerate innovation, reduce CAPEX/OPEX and quick roll-out of 5G networks. HFCL is also investing in a 5G lab at its R&D centre in Bangalore.
O-RAN Alliance comprises of telecom operators, telecom gear makers and the academia, and interoperable mobile networks, which will enable telecom operators to mix and match components to build out 5G networks and prevent vendor lock-in. The listed ones are Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Cisco, SoftBank, AltioStar, BT, T-Mobile among others.