[Courtesy of KT]
SEOUL -- South Korea's top telecom company KT has tied up with Japan's mobile operator NTT Docomo and its service partner Fujitsu to establish an open radio access network (RAN) testbed aimed at increasing the compatibility of 5G base station equipment and successfully tested the multi-vendor interworking of open 5G base stations.
Fujitsu, Japanese information and communications technology equipment and services company, provides an open RAN-based commercial service to NTT.
KT created a test environment by introducing Fujitsu's 5G base station to its testbed and completed interoperability verification by linking its own open 5G base station equipment with Fujitsu's equipment. They succeeded in a connection test that transmits signals from terminals used by subscribers to the core network through base stations.
RAN resides between a device such as a mobile phone, a computer, or any remotely controlled machine and provides connection with its core network. The Open RAN (O-RAN or ORAN) Alliance is a global carrier-led effort to drive new levels of openness in the radio access network of 5G wireless systems. It aims to make radio access networks more open and smarter than previous generations.
KT aims to develop advanced Open RAN technologies through cooperation with NTT Docomo, such as software-based virtualized (vRAN) that moves the controller functions of hardware base stations to centralized servers, bringing them closer to the edge of a network to allow mobile network operators to pool and adjust radio resources to better accommodate for user traffic.
"Through the success of this Open RAN test, we will establish a strategy to efficiently respond to new demands for wireless networks such as private 5G," KT's infrastructure research and development lab head Lee Jong-sik said in a statement on January 6. "KT will support the vitalization of the domestic Open RAN ecosystem by providing small and medium-sized enterprises with an environment where various manufacturers can test 5G equipment."
A "private 5G" network customized for services in specific regions affords numerous advantages for modern enterprises as it can deliver ultra-low latency and incredibly high bandwidth connections supporting artificial intelligence-driven applications.
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