Vodafone advances future-ready radio access network
Vodafone has made significant progress six months into its five-year radio access network (RAN) investment programme to improve connectivity for its 355 million customers across Europe and Africa.
Open RAN at scale
This includes detailed plans to upgrade and extend Vodafone’s RAN with 5G-Advanced (the next evolution of 5G) and energy-efficient tech with our current strategic partners Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia. It also includes the selection of Samsung as a strategic vendor for the development of Open RAN at scale across Europe. Open RAN supports diverse but interoperable software and hardware at a mobile base station, paving the way for greater automation and innovation.
Under this programme, Germany is the first market implementing Open RAN and is set to become one of the largest deployments of this technology in Europe, with Samsung equipping thousands of sites. The first Open RAN site is already live in Hannover, and Wismar is set to become the first city served by Vodafone to be fully equipped with Open RAN by Spring 2026. Vodafone will work with Samsung to add thousands of sites in other markets over the course of the programme.
Vodafone is investing in Open RAN to foster the growth of open, highly programmable and innovative network solutions. The inclusion of Samsung as a strategic RAN supplier will help it deliver on these goals and aligns with Vodafone’s objective to maintain a resilient and robust supply chain.
5G-Advanced radio and core
Key partners, including Ericsson and Nokia, will continue to develop the radio and core network for 5G-Advanced, to fulfill the promise of 5G as a multiservice, multi-purpose network.
Vodafone is implementing a cloud-native 5G Standalone (5G SA) core across its European operations. This will allow the company to test and introduce 5G-Advanced features when there is market demand and widespread vendor support, such as:
- Network Slicing – a key enabler of differentiated connectivity where network throughput and latency can be optimised to match customer needs.
- Mission Critical Communications (MCx) services – to provide essential voice, data and video connectivity to first responders, public safety services, and transportation sectors.
- RedCap – to cost-effectively connect low-powered IoT and wearables such as smartwatches and smart glasses.
- L4S – Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput – a new network protocol crucial for applications requiring consistent low latency even when the network is busy.
- Voice over New Radio (VoNR) – a new protocol that allows voice calls to be made over the 5G network offering better customer experience.
Alberto Ripepi, Chief Network Officer at Vodafone, said: “Vodafone has selected strategic partners to develop one of largest radio networks of its kind in Europe and Africa. We are focused on delivering the best experience for our customers by investing in new technologies and architectures, including 5G Advanced, Open RAN, direct-to-device satellite and RAN automation on our journey towards building robust and autonomous networks.”
AI-based radios
These developments will be supported by Artificial Intelligence (AI), with initial efforts in energy efficiency optimisation underway. Vodafone is partnering with Ericsson to implement the RAN Automation platform, which features AI-based functionalities. This initiative builds on Vodafone’s membership of the AI RAN Alliance, aimed at promoting innovation in AI-driven radio networks.
Vodafone is also collaborating with AST SpaceMobile to introduce direct-to-device mobile broadband in Europe and to integrate this service with terrestrial networks. Vodafone and AST SpaceMobile have established SatCo, a European joint venture that aims to provide services to mobile operators throughout the continent.
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