AT&T, Ericsson and Fujitsu subsidiary 1Finity claimed a major milestone in its work to develop open and programmable networks, completing the “first” open RAN call using third-party radios at the US operator’s labs.

The trio stated the move demonstrates the potential of open RAN specifications and by using open interfaces the successful data call showed off how “increased interoperability and flexibility can be realised within network infrastructures”.

In completing the demonstration, Ericsson used its high-capacity RAN processor 6672 and 1Finity radios, “showcasing reliability of the multivendor solution”.

Fujitsu struck a new deal with AT&T for its open RAN efforts in December 2024, around a year after the operator named the Japanese company as a partner when it struck a $14 billion deal with Ericsson to deploy the technology.

AT&T has always maintained that despite the size of the Ericsson contract, it is pursuing a multi-vendor open RAN strategy. It has also named Mavenir as a partner, however the company was not mentioned in this latest announcement.

Leadership
Rob Soni, VP of RAN Technology at AT&T, said the call was a testament to the operator’s leadership in open RAN innovation and marked a significant step towards its vision of an “open, agile and programmable wireless network”.

Ericsson’s head of product line cloud and purpose-built 5G RAN for its Networks division, Johan Hultell, noted the partnership underscored the transformative potential of robust collaboration in the open RAN ecosystem.

AT&T has stated it aims to move 70 per cent of its 5G network traffic across open hardware by late 2026.