New market data argues that the Open RAN market has been more active than previous findings have suggested
Digital Catapult has become the only Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC) in the UK accredited by the O-RAN ALLIANCE, and the fifth in the Europe. The others are sited in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The Digital Catapult works with startups, industries, investors, public sector and academia to accelerates the adoption of new and emerging technologies. The aim is to drive regional, national and international growth for UK businesses across the economy.
OTICs are designed to provide a collaborative, open environment to support the growth of the Open RAN ecosystem by enabling testing, validation and integration of multi-vendor solutions. The purpose is to ensure interoperability and foster industry collaboration in line with O-RAN ALLIANCE specifications. Find out more about Digital Catapult’s facilities here.
Reports of Open RAN’s decline greatly exaggerated?
If you wonder what all the fuss is about given Open RAN’s apparently glacial rate of progress and rotten financial performance, Téral Research begs to differ. The research house contacted our counterparts at RCR Wireless to dispute the notion that Open RAN market revenue fell in 2024, by 83% in 2024 compared with 2023. This is Mobile Experts’ view, cited by RCR.
Mobile Experts’ view of a massive slowdown was supported by Stefan Pongratz, VP of RAN market research at Dell’Oro Group, who said that the RAN market overall had suffered its steepest decline in 20 years in 2024.
According to Stéphane Téral, Founder and Chief Analyst at Téral Research, Open RAN revenue enjoyed singled-digit growth in 2024. He said the major part of the growth was due to AT&T which singlehandedly accounted for 30% of Open RAN revenue in 2024. Other key developments were Deutsche Telekom, TELUS and Vodafone deploying Open RAN in smaller areas, while Rakuten Symphony and Rakuten Mobile contributed to its growth.
Téral stressed to RCR that these deployments were live commercial rollouts, not trials, and Vodafone is continuing installations in markets like Romania in preparation for its planned pan-European rollout which will cover 170,000 sites. Further, more than 100 CSPs are testing Open RAN, he said and more than 20 are in the throes of commercial rollouts.
He acknowledged that there are still challenges for Open RAN to overcome. They are also explored in our report, see below, download it for free from here).
Everything to play for
Anyway, the folks at Digital Catapult clearly think there’s a lot of mileage in Open RAN. Joe Butler, CTO at Digital Catapult, said, “Achieving OTIC status marks a…step forward in our commitment to advance the development and deployment of open future networks in the UK. By enabling real-world validation through our world-class facilities and expertise, we are shaping the future of advanced connectivity and empowering vendors to thrive in a rapidly evolving market.”
Maja Graetz, COO of the O-RAN ALLIANCE, added, “OTICs play an important role in advancing the market for open and intelligent network solutions. Together, we are driving the O-RAN Certification and Badging Program – building trust in O-RAN-based products and accelerating their adoption in large-scale deployments.”
