…set to launch experimental 5G network to the cloud
France’s largest telecoms firm, Orange confirms that it will not be using equipment from Chinese vendors when developing Europe’s 5G networks, but will go for suppliers like Ericsson and Nokia instead, although in Africa the company has chosen to work with Huawei, the Chinese company which dominates as a telecoms equipment supplier to operators.
“We’re working more and more with Chinese vendors in Africa, not because we like China, but we have an excellent business relationship with Huawei,” CEO Stephane Richard said at the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
“They’ve invested in Africa while the European vendors have been hesitating.”
Following building diplomatic pressure from Washington, alleging that Huawei equipment could be used by Beijing for spying, European governments have put strict controls on Chinese companies building 5G networks with some countries banning Chinese vendors outright.
“It’s not only the pressure from the government – we are European citizens and share the concern,” Richard said in an interview on the side-lines of Mobile World Congress. “We can’t ignore the fact that the big Chinese players are close to the Chinese state”.
Huawei, despite repeatedly denying being a national security risk, has steadily lost market share to Ericsson and Nokia, with Orange’s Belgian decision replacing their Huawei equipment with kit from Nokia.
Orange has also shown a willingness to use gear from South Korea’s Samsung instead, as he described it an alternative to the “China vs. Europe debate”.
“We’ll need time and additional investment to build new standalone networks with multiple vendors,” Richard said. “The fact is that in Europe today developing 5G networks with Chinese vendors is more and more difficult – we take this as a reality”.
Meanwhile, Orange will launch an experimental 5G network using cloud-based open platform and artificial intelligence as telecoms makes the shift to the cloud, in a bid to cut cost and modernise.
The network will be built in Lannion, northern France, in partnership with other tech companies like Mavenir, Casa Systems, Hewlett Packard, Dell Technologies and Xiaomi.
“This experimental network will enable Orange to understand the customer benefit of a fully clouderised network, as well as AI” says Orange’s Chief Technology Officer, Michael Trabbia.
“We’ll start small but ramp up quickly to encompass hundreds of users by the end of this year.”
By 2022, Orange hopes for the network, Pikeo, to be expanded to other countries once it is fully-fledged and able to self-repair thanks to automation and machine learning, with Trabbia noting that Spain might be a good candidate for exportation.
A new technology called Open Radio Access Network (RAN), which uses software to run network functions on the cloud has been experimented with by several telecoms companies. The technology promises to cut costs for telecom operators by providing cloud-based software for network operations, thus requiring less physical equipment.
Orange plans to have 100% of its equipment compatible with the open RAN by 2025 as a means to face the challenge of ever-accelerating digitalisation amid the pandemic.
“We’re seeing big expectations from customers, the industry … as with the factory of the future: augmented maintenance, high-definition monitoring, logistical elements which we’re working to optimise thanks to this type of network,” Trabbia added