BARCELONA, Spain – T-Mobile US has been aggressive in rolling out new technology to support its rapidly expanding 5G network, but has so far not dipped its commercial toe into the open radio access network (RAN) space.

Neville Ray, president of technology at T-Mobile US, explained during a one-on-one interview at the MWC Barcelona 2023 event that the carrier’s lack of open RAN depth is due to timing. He explained that the technology lacked maturity when the carrier kicked off its expansive network upgrade program.

“For us, we didn't go down on open RAN path when we made our big vendor decisions three years ago,” Ray said. “The pace and scale that we were moving on, features and capabilities we needed, the ecosystem just was not ready. And the O-RAN guys will tell you that.”

Those RAN decisions involved five-year contracts signed in early 2021 with Ericsson and Nokia to supply 5G RAN equipment for T-Mobile US’ $40 billion network upgrade. Those vendors have lagged the broader ecosystem in commercializing open RAN equipment.

However, Ray did preface his comments by stating, “I think the ecosystem’s maturing.”

“We've made massive investments into single RAN in our network environment, and it's not like we're repeating that soon,” Ray said. “But clearly, we're evaluating continually open RAN opportunities. We believe that the ecosystem will be stronger with open RAN. But there isn’t a deployment thing that T-Mobile US is doing now.”

T-Mobile US’ 5G deployment was initially spurred by the 600 MHz spectrum assets it acquired in a government auction in early 2017. The carrier later bolstered that move with the deep 2.5 GHz spectrum it gained access to when it purchased Sprint.

T-Mobile US Is ‘Engaged’ on Open RAN

Ray did note that parent company Deutsche Telekom (DT) has been a big proponent of open RAN, which could help T-Mobile US down the road as it investigates its options.

“I think DT is actually doing some good work and the vendor community is large and diverse,” Ray said.

DT ahead of the MWC Barcelona 2023 event teamed with a handful of other large European-based operators in releasing a white paper touting the progress and ongoing challenges of their combined efforts in driving the open RAN ecosystem. The white paper highlighted open RAN advances in meeting challenges tied to maturity, security, and energy efficiency.

DT during the event announced deals with Nokia, Fujitsu, and Mavenir for initial commercial open RAN deployments across the carrier’s European footprint.

“Open RAN has matured over the last months in both stability and performance, which has given us the confidence for an initial commercial deployment,” DT Group CTO Abdu Mudesir, noted in a statement on the deal. “Together with Nokia, Mavenir and other ecosystem partners, we will use our collaboration as the springboard to accelerate open RAN development and create a path to deployment at scale.”

Ray is cognizant of that work and said T-Mobile US was “engaged” with the open RAN ecosystem.

“We're trying to understand, make sure the various issues that we've seen, and we've seen starting to mature through O-RAN, are getting resolved. And I think there’s progress,” Ray said. “I think we all know that will reduce over time. But there are some good, strong U.S. companies in the space, which I think is very healthy. I'm very pragmatic about what we do and how we do it. O-RAN timing didn't align with what we did. But going forward, we'll see where we go.”

T-Mobile US 5G Oversight

Of course, T-Mobile US’ next network evolution will not be of direct concern to Ray who is set to leave the carrier later this year. The departure will cap a significant 23-year role for Ray in leading that carrier’s extensive technology journey.

Ray joined T-Mobile US in 2000, when the carrier operated under the VoiceStream Wireless banner. VoiceStream – and fellow regional operator Powertel – were soon acquired by German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom and plugged in under its worldwide T-Mobile operating brand.

Ray oversaw T-Mobile US’ GSM-based transition path from 2G (GSM/GPRS), to 3G (UMTS/HSPA), to 4G (LTE), and on to its current 5G-based network. This also included the integration of acquired CDMA-based networks from MetroPCS and eventually Sprint.

Current T-Mobile US executive Ulf Ewaldsson is set to replace Ray. Ewaldsson joined T-Mobile US just in early 2019, having previously served as CTO at Ericsson. During his time at Ericsson, Ewaldsson served under current Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg.

At T-Mobile US, Ewaldsson was initially SVP for technology transformation before being promoted to his current role as EVP and chief network officer in 2021. The leadership stack and responsibilities below Ewaldsson is set to remain the same as it has been under Ray. This includes EVP and CIO Brian King, EVP and CTO Abdul Saad, and EVP and Advanced and Emerging Technologies executive John Saw all continuing to report to Ewaldsson after the transition.

While Ray remains open to open RAN, he is also confident in T-Mobile US’ current RAN position. That confidence is aided by the carrier’s current 5G coverage and speed advantage he has been directly involved with in creating.

“Right now, with what we have in the market, we're in a good spot,” Ray said.