Carries out successful 4G and 5G Open RAN calls in southwestern France
Orange has paired with Samsung to carry out 4G and 5G calls over virtualized RAN (vRAN) and Open RAN in France.
The calls were carried out over Orange's vRAN and Open RAN network in southwestern France.
Prior to the phone calls, the two companies tested the technology at Orange's lab in Lyon.
Samsung noted that the field tests were successful, and were able to demonstrate reliable network delivery for future potential deployments.
The companies said that testing will extend to additional sites in the southwest and western parts of France by the end of 2025.
Samsung provided its vRAN technology along with its Open-RAN compliant radios for low- and mid- bands (700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz, and 2.6GHz), and 3.5GHz 32T32R Massive MIMO radios.
“This first call on a virtualized RAN in France, based on Samsung technology, paves the way for our future cloud RAN deployment,” said Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, CTO networks at Orange France.
“This important milestone is the result of an efficient cooperation between Samsung and Orange teams, and the promise to get new achievements through this partnership.”
Orange previously worked with Samsung last year to conduct a call over 2G vRAN using an Open RAN network shared with Vodafone in Romania.
In 2023, the French carrier signed an agreement with Vodafone to share Open RAN infrastructure in parts of Europe, in rural locations in particular.
As for Samsung, the vendor has signed Open RAN contracts with a number of carriers globally, including Telus, KDDI, Vodafone, and O2 Telefónica.
