"Interoperability Between Different 5G Equipment" KT Successfully Conducts Multi-Vendor Base Station Interoperability Test Through Open RAN

Establishment of Open RAN Testbed at Convergence Technology Institute in Collaboration with NTT Docomo

KT researchers and Fujitsu researchers conducting multi-vendor interoperability testing at the Open RAN testbed established at the KT Convergence Technology Institute in Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] KT announced on the 6th that it has built an Open RAN (Open Radio Access Network) testbed at the KT Convergence Technology Institute in Seoul, enhancing compatibility of 5G base station equipment with Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Fujitsu, and succeeded in multi-vendor interoperability testing of open 5G mobile communication base stations.

Open RAN is an open front-haul interface that allows base station equipment from various manufacturers to interoperate, and is one of the core technologies of 5G, which requires more base station installations than 4G mobile communications. Until now, due to lack of standard compatibility between equipment manufacturers, only base station equipment from the same manufacturer could interoperate.

KT introduced Fujitsu's 5G base stations, which NTT DoCoMo is providing as the world's first commercial service based on Open RAN, into the Open RAN testbed to establish a multi-vendor interoperability testing environment.

In particular, KT completed interoperability verification by linking its self-developed open 5G base station equipment with Fujitsu's 5G equipment, and successfully conducted an end-to-end connection test last October that transmitted signals sent from subscriber devices through the base station to the core network.

Starting with the establishment of the Open RAN testbed, KT plans to expand cooperation with NTT DoCoMo to develop more advanced Open RAN technologies such as software-based virtualized base stations (vRAN).

Lee Jong-sik, head of the Infrastructure DX Research Lab at KT Convergence Technology Institute, said, "Through the success of this Open RAN test, we have been able to establish strategies to efficiently respond to new wireless network demands such as 5G private networks," and added, "KT will provide an environment for interoperability testing of 5G equipment from various manufacturers to small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting the activation of the domestic Open RAN ecosystem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.