Etisalat plans to accelerate OpenRAN realisation as a part of its cloud native NaaS (Network-as-a-Service) transformation.
Haitham Abdulrazzak, Chief Technology Officer, Etisalat shared his insights during an Open RAN (P-RAN) conference at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
In the year 2020, Etisalat UAE had deployed the first OpenRAN based mobile network cluster in the MENA region, as one of the early adopters of the technology worldwide. Since then, Etisalat has been expanding the scope to develop the OpenRAN network in the UAE.
“Etisalat has taken early strides going beyond research and development, leading the implementation of OpenRAN in UAE. Together with global stakeholders and partners, we are committed to advance a combined OpenRAN and MEC ecosystem,” said Haitham Abdulrazzak, Chief Technology Officer, Etisalat.
He further added that OpenRAN as a part of their cloud native NaaS transformation will disrupt the ecosystems in mobile communications to the benefit of the industry.
The company further pointed out that the platform is designed with OpenRAN and MEC requirements in mind, accommodating OpenRAN on 4G, 5G and future technologies.
“A3 is our flagship in achieving our OpenRAN vision, including zero touch across provisioning, optimisation, operations and planning,” added Abdulrazzak.