Changes are coming to the telecommunications infrastructure market, which has long been led by global mega-vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Huawei. A major trigger was the establishment of the O-RAN Alliance in February 2018. The aim of this alliance, which is led by NTT Docomo and other major overseas operators, is to shift from a vertically integrated system by a single vendor to a multi-vendor system by making the interface between base station equipment open. to implement the configuration. Virtualization is also a trend, as symbolized by Rakuten Mobile's fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network. As virtualization progresses, various software will run on general-purpose servers, making it possible to create configurations that are not tied to specific vendors. As the multi-vendor trend progresses, the presence of emerging vendors such as Mavenir (US) and Altiostar (US) is increasing. In the last few months alone, Mavenir has provided containerized CU/DU as software for Deutsche Telekom's commercial project O-RAN Town, and for testing a 5G SA end-to-end cloud network in Orange, France. The open RAN solution "MAVair" was adopted. Altiostar has become known in Japan for building Rakuten's fully virtualized network, but since last year, Altiostar has been providing RAN software to Telefónica Germany and Telefónica UK's open RAN demonstration experiments. The trend toward openness and virtualization by Fujitsu, which aims to be “post-Huawei,” is creating opportunities for domestic vendors that have only a small share of the global market. In July 2020, Fujitsu selected two models, a dual-band compatible RU and a triple-band compatible RU, for the construction of a 5G SA network for the satellite broadcaster DISH Network, which is newly entering the United States as an MNO. "Unlike megavendors who must protect their strongholds, we have nothing to lose. In addition to RUs, we are also developing CU/DU, and we would like to propose them to operators around the world who need them," said Fujitsu Mobile Systems. Mr. Toru Sekino, deputy general manager of the business division, shows his enthusiasm.
Mr. Toru Sekino, Deputy General Manager of Fujitsu Mobile Systems Business Headquarters
The company is targeting markets where "Untrusted Vendors" have been eliminated. As relations between the United States and China worsen, the U.S. government is asking not only its own country but also its allies not to use equipment and services from Chinese vendors such as Huawei. Mr. Sekino says, "We are working diligently to target these markets." Mr. Tsutomu Hisashima, senior manager of NEC Network Service Planning Division, also sees it positively, saying, "Interface openness expands possibilities. We may have opportunities to enter overseas markets from our areas of expertise such as Massive MIMO." (Fig. 1) .
Mr. Tsutomu Kushima, Senior Manager, Network Service Planning Division, NEC
Figure 1 Formation of an open ecosystem/O-RAN
