What is a radio access network?

A radio access network (RAN) is the part of a mobile network that connects end-user devices, like smartphones, to the cloud. This is achieved by sending information via radio waves from end-user devices to a RAN’s transceivers, and finally from the transceivers to the core network which connects to the global internet.

For telecommunications network operators, RANs are crucial connection points that represent significant overall network expenses, perform intensive and complex processing, and now face rapidly increasing demand as more edge and 5G use cases emerge for telco customers.

Just as the virtualization of network functions has enabled telcos to modernize their networks, similar principles can also be applied to RAN. This is especially important as the future of the industry focuses on the transition to 5G—in fact, the ongoing 5G network transformation often depends on the virtualization of RAN, and increasingly assumes that it is container-based and cloud-native.