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Light Reading Network X Americas
May 21-23, 2024
Irving Convention Center at Las ColinasIrving, Texas

5G RAN at Big 5G

With all the evolution that is currently taking place in the RAN, there is so much to be talked about, best-practice and learnings to be exchanged, and partnerships to be formed. To hear from the leading service providers, analysts and vendors in the RAN space, don’t miss Big 5G’s 2-day long dedicated sessions addressing everything from open vRAN, energy efficiency, RIC, RAN security, 5G Advanced, indoor 5G connectivity and more. 

Join us at the 2-day RAN track at Big 5G and define your open RAN strategy, understand how leading operators are transitioning to 5G Advanced, building their indoor 5G networks and market positioning, as well as discover the latest innovations in RIC, RAN security and much more. 

Transitioning to Cloud RAN

RIC use cases and applications

From vRAN to Open RAN

Ensuring a highly secure RAN

Open RAN system integration & lifecycle management

Preparing for 5G Advanced

Indoor 5G: A focus on the customer experience

Neutral host systems for venue networks

Experience in deploying and operating Open RAN

Gabriel Brown

Senior Principal Analyst

Heavy Reading and Chairman of Big 5G’s RAN sessions

"North American operators are deep into one of the biggest RAN deployments in history. In 2022, the US accounted for 25% of the global RAN equipment market, even though it serves just 5% of the global subscribers, showing this unprecedented infrastructure investment is focused on network quality and user experience."

Within a market of $45.2bn...

The US is the world’s second-largest RAN market, representing approximately 95% of North America’s total, with 5G spending expected to continue to grow steadily by 2026. The local CSPs are fiercely competing to bring services to market first and gain market share, as well as deploy and uncover ROI for open vRAN, mMIMO, 5G-Advanced and such technologies. 

Source: Omdia Mobile Infrastructure Market Tracker – 2Q22 Analysis

Open vRAN will grow if MNOs accept trade-offs

Market coverage of open vRAN sometimes makes it sound like it has taken over the RAN market when sales from open vRAN solutions will only represent an estimated 16% of the total RAN market in 2026. This does not mean, however, that open vRAN is not an important long-term trend. On the contrary, it is the fastest growing segment of that market. While it might look ‘easier’ for greenfield operators to do open vRAN, integration and coordination as CSPs are careful to avoid disruption to their existing services or might not want to introduce new technologies for now. 

Source: Omdia 2023 Trends to Watch Radio Access Networks

5G-Advanced enhances and extends 5G capabilities

With 3GPP Release 18, 5G is now entering the 5G-Advanced era which is expected to bring additional enhancements to both mobile broadband and vertical use cases, both in terms of networks and devices, and thereby bring 5G networks closer to what was the original 5G vision. Omdia’s 2022 survey uncovered the most important 5G-Advanced features (see figure).


Omdia Anticipates That

Supporting Resources

2023 Trends to Watch: Radio Access Networks (RAN)

Self-Organizing Networks and RAN Intelligent Control

Open vRAN Tracker – 2022 Analysis

Upcoming RAN Digital Events Include