LIVE FROM MWL UNWRAPPED: AT&T executive Yigal Elbaz (pictured) told Mobile World Live (MWL) a massive open RAN deal the operator awarded to Ericsson in 2023 was a shot in the arm for the approach, which he believes is gaining more traction than it might get credit for.
Elbaz, SVP of Technology and Network Services, and Network CTO, explained the $14 billion agreement with Ericsson is progressing as expected, but noted there is more at work than simply two industry heavyweights teaming up.
Instead, Elbaz argued the duo’s work has been instrumental in proving open RAN is suitable for existing networks and not solely the domain of greenfield deployments.
He argues AT&T’s deal with Ericsson also helped to create the scale necessary to encourage other players to get involved with the open and disaggregated network push, convincing makers of radios, servers, compute platforms and more that there is a viable market to target.
Today, he said, the market is far more advanced in terms of tackling questions around integration of diverse network equipment, in developing common applications to handle specific functions and working together to test various components.
But Elbaz acknowledged there is a balance to be struck in terms of timing, telling MWL it is not a race and AT&T strives to “do the right thing at the right moment”.
I’m not looking at my watch every day saying ok, how many new vendors did we bring in.
Igal Elbaz – CTO, Networks AT&T
AT&T and Ericsson have focused on establishing a base from which to build a broader ecosystem: Elbaz explained the companies have worked on updating or swapping elements of its current network and remained on track to hit a goal of running 70 per cent of its traffic over open hardware by end-2026.
Along with building and swapping infrastructure, AT&T has continued to deploy mid-band spectrum, added capacity and simplified its cell sites.
There is also some more advanced functionality involving 3D imaging of all AT&T’s sites, which Elbaz said enables it to “create a true digital twin” which can inform its “AI-based network planning”.
Elbaz also discussed the role of governments and standards bodies in advancing open RAN, along with identifying the four pillars AT&T considers essential to the approach.
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