RAN automation: central to 5G, but is it a kind of dream?

RAN automation
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Plans to implement advanced machine learning based automation in 5G networks are grinding to a halt, with operators slowing investment and reducing their ambitions.

This comes from a report out this week from Rethink Technology Research in its RAN Research service entitled, “RAN automation is central to the 5G case – but is it a distant dream?” Automation and SON deployments, trends to 2025

Failure to properly see through the full automation of 5G will mean much of the business case for installing it in the first place will be lost.

Operators surveyed for this report are now less ambitious in planning automation, and yet in 5G it is not an option – the network is so complex that it can no longer be properly managed by humans. 

Delay Automation and SON and you delay 5G.

Automation targets for completion have now fallen back into the mid-2020s, and without it 5G will not deliver the huge reductions in operating costs that it needs to.

Download the executive summary here.

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