LIVE FROM TIP FYUZ24, DUBLIN: Vodafone Group’s head of open RAN Paco Martin declared the approach ready for prime time as he outlined the operator’s progress as one of the trailblazers, urging the industry to move beyond talk into solid action.

Martin (pictured, second from right) explained open RAN is already delivering for Vodafone, which is now in the throes of finalising its radio tender process.

“We are seeing in our network, in our deployments, it’s commercial, it’s delivering”, Martin said during a panel session on the second day of the Telecom Infra Project’s FYUZ24 event.

The executive clarified the approach had met Vodafone’s expectations for KPIs, but emphasised the procurement element as being equally important in terms of delivering the level of competition in the vendor market the operator and other open RAN promoters sought.

Martin said Vodafone’s open RAN journey had equipped it with a level of knowledge about its network and costs that means there is now “no way back” for it.

Open RAN has delivered “good KPIs” and a “good technical situation”, along with “a lot of promising innovations” Vodafone is not yet able to speak of publicly.

Martin noted the voyage of open RAN is not always plain sailing: operators must adapt to a higher level of complexity in terms of working with multiple vendors compared with the past business model involving only one or two.

Vodafone’s experience of open RAN has opened its eyes to “how the radio is built, how you make the decisions, how you optimise” the network.

Focusing on the RAN is important due to the level of capex involved, Martin asserted, with the lessons of its open approach leaving the operator “in a much better position to make the best decisions”, to innovate and tackle network costs.