CEO of IS-Wireless in Riga: Central Eastern Europe is ready to steer its 5G revolution

Central Eastern Europe is a home to enterprises offering cutting edge 5G solutions, ready to take up the task of building the region’s mobile networks. It is time to capture the potential of CEE’s enterprises by providing regulatory support and raising awareness of their activity. We have a one of a kind opportunity to become a globally recognised 5G hub – Sławomir Pietrzyk, CEO of IS-Wireless, a Polish provider of 4G and 5G solutions argued during the 5G Techritory Forum 2022 in Riga, Latvia.

Representing IS-Wireless, a Polish provider of 4G and 5G Open RAN solutions, Sławomir Pietrzyk, CEO, was a speaker of panel discussion and workshops during the 5G Techritory Forum 2022. The company was a co-host of the conference’s side-event on 5G development in Central Eastern Europe. IS-Wireless advocates development of mobile networks built in the Open RAN model. The approach gaining interest in the industry allows to involve multiple players in the process of networks deployment and is argued to drive competition and innovation, while increasing security by using open interfaces between individual elements of the radio access network (RAN).

Region looks into open 5G networks

A roundtable discussion featuring mobile networks providers, telecom operators, regulators as well as governmental representatives from Central Eastern European countries and the United Kingdom was co-hosted by IS-Wireless and Digital Poland Association during the two-day conference in Riga, Latvia. The meeting held under an honorary patronage of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs was dedicated to discussing scenarios for Open RAN deployments in Central Eastern Europe. Industry representatives argued that the changes affecting the telecom industry are a chance for the region.

Governments and private operators around the world are turning towards Open RAN. This is a huge opportunity for Central Eastern European countries, as they are the home to some of the world’s best engineers, software developers, connectivity experts and innovative companies providing cutting edge 5G solutions – said Sławomir Pietrzyk, CEO of IS-Wireless.

In his opinion, a fair, yet minimalistic regulation of the mobile networks market, allowing a level playing field in the mobile networks market is still to be seen. 

In order to tap into the potential of Open RAN, we need a bare minimum of regulations necessary for fair competition in our industry. The legal framework must catch up with technological reality, and that includes addressing use of open interfaces and providing relevant standards – CEO of Open RAN 5G provider IS-Wireless stated.

Public meets private – learning from CEE partners in UK

The issues of regulatory landscape and cooperation between governments and the industry in supporting open network ecosystems 5G mobile networks were debated by experts, including solution providers, mobile networks operators as well as governmental officials and researchers gathered in Riga.

 There is a lesson to be learned in what our region’s partners, the UK, are doing. By setting an ambitious goal of having 35 percent of all telecommunication networks built in Open RAN, developing a dedicated strategy for diversification of their mobile networks market and providing significant funding in the field, the UK is recognising and capturing the global connectivity trends. I would like to see the same level of awareness in Central Eastern Europe – said Sławomir Pietrzyk, IS-Wireless’ CEO, a speaker of the “Nordic-Baltic & UK Workshop: Diverse, Open & interoperable 5G” hosted by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Experts of the Government of the United Kingdom during the 5G Techritory Forum.

 Open RAN shows particular potential for our region and its partners. There is mutual benefit to be had as we exchange successful policies boosting market diversification and innovative technologies as a result – representative IS-Wireless added.

Open RAN – industry’s debate continues

Debate on the opportunities provided by developing networks according to the Open RAN model and potential concerns regarding necessary regulatory framework continued on the second day of the conference in Riga.

During the “Open RAN Ecosystem” panel discussion, moderated by Ioannis Tomkos Professor, University of Patras and featuring representatives of Cisco Systems, Mavenir, IS-Wireless as well as Peter Stuckmann, Deputy Director of the Future Networks office of the European Commission, experts highlighted the efficiency of Open RAN in terms of costs and resources management – There is a finite number of network infrastructure sites available. Open RAN is the way to use already available resources and sites to their full potential and decrease the TCO of networks. Finer granularity of network functionality and spread of functions throughout sites is more efficient, but soon enough will simply become necessary 

Sławomir Pietrzyk argued. He pointed to security benefits of multi-vendor approach

Recent months have shown the need for security and importance of not becoming entirely reliable on a single source in our region and Entire Europe in terms of energy. These lessons are true in the case of mobile networks as well. As we learn about the value of energy source diversification, we should apply the same logic to the way we build networks – CEO of IS-Wireless concluded during the panel discussion at 5G Techritory Forum in Riga.

About IS-Wireless

IS-Wireless develops and delivers 4G and 5G mobile networks supporting more users with better performance at lower cost by applying cutting edge technologies. The company is a provider of software and hardware necessary for building 4G and 5G networks in the scope of both RAN and Core. IS-Wireless participates in the Open RAN revolution and expects significant changes in the way networks are built and deployed in the coming years. The company has been recognized as one of a few European RAN vendors by leading telco operators including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telecom Italia (TIM), Telefónica and Vodafone in their November 2021 report “BUILDING AN OPEN RAN ECOSYSTEM FOR EUROPE”.