The operators will cooperate to virtualise part of their networks.
Orange says it will work with Vodafone to expand its shared O-RAN network to more rural areas of the country. The partnership was first announced in October 2023 and will now be expanded.
In particular, the companies will work towards virtualising their 2G networks, which they say represents a major breakthrough and opportunity because it removes the obligation to maintain traditional 2G networks developed on specialized hardware.
The companies are working with various O-RAN suppliers including Samsung which provides specialized vRAN software, Wind River which provides the abstraction layer through its Studio Cloud Platform and Dell which provides PowerEdge servers.
“This first development of an operational Open RAN network in Romania represents an important step for Orange in its transition to more agile and automated, cloud-native networks,” says Orange Technology Director Marius Maican.
