Crafting a Transatlantic Approach to 5G: Assessing the Evolution of Open RAN in the United States and Europe

Rarely do technical standards capture the public imagination. Yet, open radio access network architectures, Open RAN for short, has increasingly found itself at the forefront of 5G policy and industry discussions on both sides of the Atlantic. One recent forecast predicts that cumulative Open RAN revenues could be as high as $15 billion (or 10% of the overall RAN market) by 2025. Over the past year, four major European operators—Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Orange, and Telefonica—joined forces to support the rollout of Open RAN in their future mobile networks across Europe. Similarly, in the U.S., operators such as Verizon, AT&T, and Dish have also expressed interest in Open RAN. However, there is also widespread recognition that commercial deployments continue to face significant challenges and that Open RAN is not a silver bullet for broader economic and national security concerns. As this space continues to evolve, is there, and to what extent should there be, a transatlantic approach to open 5G network architectures?

Rarely do technical standards capture the public imagination. Yet, open radio access network architectures, Open RAN for short, has increasingly found itself at the forefront of 5G policy and industry discussions on both sides of the Atlantic. One recent forecast predicts that cumulative Open RAN revenues could be as high as $15 billion (or 10% of the overall RAN market) by 2025. Over the past year, four major European operators—Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Orange, and Telefonica—joined forces to support the rollout of Open RAN in their future mobile networks across Europe. Similarly, in the U.S., operators such as Verizon, AT&T, and Dish have also expressed interest in Open RAN. However, there is also widespread recognition that commercial deployments continue to face significant challenges and that Open RAN is not a silver bullet for broader economic and national security concerns. As this space continues to evolve, is there, and to what extent should there be, a transatlantic approach to open 5G network architectures?

This is a virtual event. Join here: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/crafting-transatlantic-approach-5g-assessing-evolution-open-ran-united-states-and-europe

Speakers:

Sławomir Pietrzyk – CEO and Founder, IS-Wireless
Stein Lundby – Senior Director of Technology Strategy, Qualcomm
Franz Seiser – Vice President of Access Disaggregation, Deutsche Telekom AG
Samih Elhage – Senior Advisor for McKinsey and Madison Dearborn Partners, and Board Member for Cogeco Inc.