IBM recently launched an open radio access network (RAN) trial with Telefónica’s Movistar brand in Argentina that advances its efforts in the telecom and 5G space.

The proof of concept (PoC) covers 81,000 people in the city of Puerto Madryn. IBM is acting as the systems integrator for the project using software and hardware components from partners Altiostar, Red Hat, Quanta, Gigatera, and Kontron.

Steve Canepa, global GM and managing director for IBM’s Communications Sector, in a blog post describes the test as being a “full functional open RAN” network that is running “live, commercial traffic and serves as an important early proof point for open RAN technology as it continues to evolve and mature.”

The trial follows on recent work between IBM and Spain’s Telefónica that saw the operator overhaul its enterprise-focused cloud platform. The Cloud Garden 2.0 product is built on IBM Cloud Pak and Red Hat OpenShift, and allows enterprise customers to run their applications on premises or in a public cloud. It’s hosted in Telefónica’s virtual data center in Spain and supports low-latency connectivity and more resilient uptime for application delivery and management.

IBM late last year repackaged many of its hybrid cloud services in a move to better target 5G network operators. The IBM Cloud for Telecommunications package includes Red Hat OpenShift, IBM Cloud, IBM Edge Application Manager, and IBM Telco Network Cloud Manager.

A number of vendors have made similar moves over the past year. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) last month revealed a stack of software and hardware for 5G open radio access networks that it plans to make commercially available before July. The HPE Open RAN Solution Stack features the vendor’s orchestration and automation software, RAN infrastructure blueprints, and a server it claims is optimized for 5G workloads in an open RAN environment.

Meanwhile, VMware, last year, repackaged its various telecom offerings under the 5G Telco Cloud Platform umbrella.