8 Years After Its Founding at Mobile World Congress, Can Open RAN Scale?

Why It Matters

Open RAN promises lower capex, vendor diversification, and faster innovation, essential as operators prepare for 5G‑advanced and 6G networks.

Key Takeaways

• Rakuten Mobile hits profit with 10.2M O-RAN subscribers
• AT&T and Deutsche Telekom launch large‑scale Open RAN rollouts
• SMO platforms now interoperable, 90 vendors integrated
• Geopolitical pressures push public funding for open‑RAN adoption
• Alliance begins 6G work, targeting deployments by 2028

Pulse Analysis

The O‑RAN Alliance, founded by five global operators in 2018, has matured from a niche experiment to a mainstream architecture. Early skeptics questioned whether disaggregated hardware and software could match the performance of traditional monolithic stacks. Rakuten Mobile’s profitable, 10.2 million‑subscriber network demonstrates that open, cloud‑native designs can achieve both scale and financial viability, encouraging incumbents to reconsider legacy vendor lock‑ins. This milestone validates the alliance’s core promise: cost‑effective, multi‑vendor ecosystems that accelerate rollout timelines.

Deployment momentum is now evident across continents. AT&T’s transition from planning to full‑scale Open RAN deployment in the U.S., coupled with Deutsche Telekom’s target of 3,000 new sites in Germany, signals confidence from the world’s largest carriers. Simultaneously, the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) layer has become a collaborative battleground, with Ericsson and Nokia opening their platforms to a shared pool of roughly 90 third‑party developers. Governments, wary of Chinese equipment, are channeling “rip‑and‑replace” funds toward open‑RAN projects, further de‑risking investment and fostering a more resilient supply chain.

Looking ahead, the alliance is already laying groundwork for 6G, aiming for early deployments by 2028. Accelerated standard‑setting cycles, driven by AI‑powered network automation and massive‑MIMO advances, will test the alliance’s ability to balance openness with rapid innovation. Operators that master interoperable SMO ecosystems and secure public backing are poised to capture the next wave of revenue from ultra‑low‑latency services, autonomous systems, and immersive media, cementing Open RAN as a cornerstone of the future telecom landscape.