Orange France, Samsung establish vRAN, Open RAN first pilot

After “rigorous” lab and field tests, Samsung and Orange France have completed a pilot test marking the first 4G and 5G calls on Orange France’s virtualised radio access network (vRAN) and Open RAN network around the Lyons region in southwestern France.

The collaboration follows the two firms achieving the industry’s “first 2G vRAN call in a shared Open RAN network” in Romania in 2024.

Orange and Samsung said the latest pilot represents a significant step forward in their existing strategic partnership, with their shared commitment accelerating the shift toward a more open, software-based architecture that is optimised for current fast-evolving networks.

They believe that through Samsung’s flexible vRAN and Open RAN, operators can advance wide-scale network sharing adoption in Europe to reduce hardware costs, power consumption and the need for duplicate sites.

Before the field testing, the companies conducted tests in the Orange labs in Lyons, demonstrating technical and operational readiness. For the field project, Samsung provided its vRAN solutions with multi-generational support, O-RAN compliant triple-band radios for low- and mid- bands (700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz), and 3.5GHz 32T32R Massive MIMO radios.

Its offerings included Samsung CognitiV Network Operations Suite (NOS), a set of AI applications and software solutions, including an AI-powered service management orchestration (SMO). This simplified network automation and enabled zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), helping Orange France to rapidly adopt new technologies and emerging services in the network, according to the companies. 

Samsung’s vRAN features intelligent automation, AI integration and energy-saving functionalities designed to allow operators to further enhance their network capabilities, increase energy efficiency and open opportunities to modernise their network infrastructure across multiple regions. 

Building on its vRAN and Open RAN ecosystem, Samsung is also collaborating with industry-leading partners – Dell Technologies (servers), Intel (processors) and Wind River (cloud platform) – for this pilot project.

Throughout the field tests, the observed performance was said to have showed strong potential for high-quality and reliable network delivery in future live deployments. The companies now plan expansion to additional sites in southwest and western parts of France by the end of 2025.  

By using Samsung’s vRAN solutions, Orange France said that it has enhanced its network capabilities benefiting from the increased flexibility and innovation offered by vRAN and Open RAN. Introducing systems into its network is also a part of Orange’s strategy to diversify its supplier ecosystem, paving the way to fostering a richer and healthier ecosystem. 

“This first call on a virtualised RAN in France, based on Samsung technology, paves the way for our future cloud RAN deployment,” said Emmanuel Lugagne Delpon, CTO of networks at Orange France. “This important milestone is the result of an efficient cooperation between Samsung and Orange teams, and the promise to get new achievements through this partnership.”

June Moon, executive vice-president, head of R&D, networks business at Samsung Electronics, added: “We are proud to take part in Orange France’s journey toward next-generation networks. Samsung’s globally proven vRAN and Open RAN solutions will not only provide high-quality and reliable connectivity, but will also offer the optimal ground for bringing transformative technologies like AI to the network in France.”