Germany's 1&1 Becomes Europe's First All-ORAN Network Operator

Germany’s 1&1 AG said Friday it initiated mobile 5G service on its open radio access network, becoming “the first network operator in Europe to rely entirely on the new Open RAN technology.” 1&1 said it became Germany’s fourth mobile operator. "We have been closely following the development of the new Open RAN technology from the very beginning,” said CEO Ralph Dommermuth: “When Rakuten launched the first fully virtualized mobile network in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, we knew for sure: This is the future! Since then, we have built internal specialist teams, established a strong partner network, and concluded tough national roaming negotiations.”