SMART Communications said that they are the first in the Philippines to successfully test a fully functional Open Radio Access Network RAN Intelligent Controller (Open RAN RIC) proof of concept at the PLDT-Smart Technolab.
PLDT’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) has successfully tested a fully functional Open Radio Access Network RAN Intelligent Controller (Open RAN RIC) proof of concept.
In partnership with NTT DOCOMO, INC., Smart is the first in the Philippines to achieve this milestone, which was conducted at the PLDT-Smart Technology Innovation Center (Technolab) in Makati City featuring various use cases involving actual Smart services, such as voice call, YouTube, mobile gaming, video streaming, and video calls, among others.
The demo also highlighted the technology's capabilities, such as traffic steering, optimization of network power consumption, and handover policy optimization, using a combination of equipment from various vendors with NTT DOCOMO's OREX* RAN and OREX SMO (Service Management & Orchestration) frameworks, showcasing the openness of Open RAN RIC and its potential to enhance network operations while lowering cost.
Smart was also the first in the Philippines to test Open RAN technology during the first quarter of 2023, having explored the technology and architecture for almost four years as part of the company’s initiatives to harness new technologies to better serve customers.
Among Open RAN’s promised benefits include enabling operators to save on service delivery cost, be more flexible and agile, and make their networks more intelligent—features which Smart aims to leverage, not just to elevate customer experience but also to provide more affordable services.
Now on its second phase, this Open RAN PoC is now focusing on testing the “Intelligence portion” of Open RAN, which allows the network to leverage on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) in the future. During the testing, Smart was able to demonstrate the power of RIC by installing and enabling open software called xApps and rApps, which are applications designed to optimize radio access network performance through near real-time and non-real-time applications, respectively.
Smart tested several intelligent applications, including traffic steering, power consumption optimization, and auto handover policy optimization. While some of these features are already available in Smart's Self-Optimizing Network (SON), Open RAN RIC will enable Smart to open up its Radio Access Network (RAN) platform for fast and easy onboarding of open-source applications developed by industry experts, regardless of vendor affinity.
The ability to choose any vendor for software and for hardware separately, at any time, will enable Smart to achieve flexibility and agility, as well as open up a vast ecosystem with more options. This ecosystem is also expected to lower vendors’ prices due to increased competition and further foster innovations in the industry.
