031: What the hell is OPENRAN? And how will it impact the future of 5G? w/ BlueFire's Rob Jones

There's a new tech industry buzzword floating around that I need to understand better - and that buzzword is OpenRAN. The reason I need to understand it better is because it seems like it has the capability to transform the way mobile operators purchase, deploy and support their networks.  In the old days, it was easy, you rang up one of the network equipment manufacturers, like Nokia, Ericsson or Huawei, and they built your network. But with OpenRAN, operators can choose from hundreds of vendors and thousands of network configurations. That sounds complex - so I want to understand better what OpenRAN is - and why are so many companies and operators are excited by it.  In this podcast, we are joined by the Founder & CEO of the global business advisory firm BlueFire, Rob Jones, for our introduction to OpenRAN. Show Notes 02:00 Intro to Rob & BlueFire 05:00 What the hell is OpenRAN - and why should we care about it? 07:30 The transformation from buying from one vendor (e.g. Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei) to the OpenRAN model 11:00 OpenRAN promises massive OpEx and CapEx savings, can it deliver on those promises? And if so, what does that mean for the network equipment manufacturers.  18:00 Will the reduced costs de-risk 5G network investments and increase deployments? 22:00 How will the OpenRAN ecosystem evolve, and what role with the likes of Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei play in it? 27:00 The role of the hyperscalers - how Microsoft, Google, AWS and Facebook have jumped on the OpenRAN bandwagon. 31:00 OpenRAN's role in Private 5G 32:00 What will it take for OpenRAN to be a success? 35:00 What are the biggest risks across the OpenRAN ecosystem that could prevent it from living up to the hype? 40:00 Examples of mobile operator innovation, including Rakuten and Malaysia's 5G strategy 45:00 The bottom line - will OpenRAN live up to the hype