Samsung and Orange Group have expanded an existing Open RAN agreement.

In an announcement today (February 25), Samsung noted that the duo had entered the next phase of their virtualized RAN (vRAN) and Open RAN projects in Europe.

According to the vendor, it builds on the successful pilots completed since 2023. As part of the expanded Open RAN push, the companies have agreed to extend the number of vRAN and Open RAN sites this year.

The two companies paired last year to carry out 4G and 5G calls over vRAN and Open RAN in France. On that occasion, the calls were carried out over Orange's vRAN and Open RAN network in southwestern France.

Prior to the phone calls, the two companies tested the technology at Orange's lab in Lyon.

Samsung will integrate its latest processors into Orange's networks as part of the expansion plans. This includes Samsung’s AI-powered vRAN with Intel Xeon 6 system-on-a-chip (SoC), which runs on a single commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) server from Dell with a cloud platform from Wind River.

The upgrades will increase the computing power through a single server, meaning that it will be able to meet high-capacity configuration requirements from Orange. Samsung claims this will provide a smaller footprint, improved performance, reduced power consumption, and simplified operations.

On top of this, the telco will be able to handle intensive workloads and AI applications on a single server by flexibly managing network resources and applying unused computing capacity to run AI and Edge applications on its existing network.

“Moving forward to the next chapter of our collaboration with Orange demonstrates how Samsung’s software-driven, open solutions are a proven, robust foundation that offer reliable network performance and services to operators and customers alike,” said Angelo Jeongho Park, EVP and head of global sales & marketing, networks business at Samsung Electronics.

“From our first call for the pilot project to our current phase in the field, Samsung’s virtualized RAN and Open RAN have proved significant performance achievements in Orange’s networks,” added Laurent Leboucher, Orange Group CTO. “With new deployments planned ahead, we look forward to further accelerating the transformation of Orange’s networks to be AI-ready.”