Telus and Samsung announced Thursday they will build the first commercial 5G virtualized and open radio access network (RAN) in Canada, and they are expanding their existing collaboration from greenfield to brownfield deployments.
Telus selected Samsung as one of its 5G network vendors in June 2020. Their approach to infrastructure deployment “embodies the essence of collaboration, bringing together manufacturers and providers to create a modular, state-of-the-art wireless network,” a Telus press release says.
“It is also one of the first truly virtualized Open RAN deployments within a complex, brownfield network environment,” the release says.
With an open RAN, Telus can use different manufacturers’ components that best meet its needs, while a virtualized RAN (vRAN) enables the use of software instead of hardware.
“This provides TELUS with faster access to the latest technologies as they become available, helping enhance customer experiences and fuel network innovation, while increasing opportunities for equipment vendors,” the release says.
For the companies’ expanded collaboration, Samsung will deliver its 64T64R Massive MIMO radios, as well as support for third-party radio integration. Telus is implementing Samsung’s advanced vRAN 3.0 and Open RAN solutions across its networks, elevating the capabilities of both its 4G and 5G services, according to the release. Samsung’s vRAN 3.0 features enhanced capabilities for improved energy efficiency, optimized performance and intelligent automation via Samsung’s Service Management and Orchestration (SMO).
“Samsung’s AI-based SMO will help TELUS accelerate vRAN rollouts at scale by enabling automated deployment of thousands of network sites simultaneously,” the release says. “It will also provide TELUS with a comprehensive set of capabilities for end-to-end automation for multi-party solutions, enabling easier deployment, operation and optimization of their network.”
The companies say they have extensively tested both the vRAN and Open RAN rollout in select Canadian markets “with excellent results”. Commercial deployment will begin in the first half of this year, with a large-scale network rollout expected to begin mid-2024.
“This is a very exciting milestone for TELUS and the industry overall, as we now have the most flexible way to offer a diversified set of services to Canadians, unlocking new levels of mobile experiences,” Nazim Benhadid, Telus’s chief technology officer, said in the press release. “We are proud to be the first Canadian telecommunications company to integrate this cutting-edge technology, together with Samsung and our other partners.”
“Innovation is not a result, but a continuous process that transforms our daily lives,” said Junehee Lee, executive vice-president and head of global sales and marketing for networks business at Seoul-based Samsung Electronics. “TELUS and Samsung have been spearheading a meaningful transformation in mobile communications and we look forward to continuing to unleash the full benefits of software-centric innovation, by advancing our industry-leading vRAN and Open RAN.”
As part of Telus’s multi-vendor approach to open RAN brownfield deployments, cloud infrastructure will be provided by Wind River, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise will supply HPE ProLiant DL110 Gen11 servers featuring 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with Intel vRAN Boost, which are workload optimized for Open RAN.
Last month, Telus and Swedish telecom technology vendor Ericsson announced they had partnered to launch and optimize Telus’s 5G standalone network.
