On this episode of the Six Five Webcast: The 5G Factor, host Ron Westfall, along with Tom Hollingsworth, dive into the latest advancements in the 5G realm. They discuss Ericsson’s recent moves to promote the Open RAN initiative through partnership with Dell Technologies and Red Hat, showcasing a significant push towards O2 interface industrialization. This episode also covers the unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 16e, boasting the A18 chip and the groundbreaking Apple C1 cellular modem—marking Apple’s ambitious step into designing its modem technologies, and much more.
Their discussion covers:
- Ericsson’s contribution to the Open RAN initiative and its implications for the mobile ecosystem
- The debut of Apple’s iPhone 16e with the A18 chip and Apple C1 modem, highlighting Apple’s foray into modem design
- Qualcomm’s enduring leadership in modem technology and its strategic moves towards portfolio diversification
- Telstra’s advancement as the first in Asia-Pacific to launch a network with 5G Advanced capabilities, facilitated by Ericsson
- The transformative role of 5G Advanced programmability in driving innovation across the telecom ecosystem
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Transcript:
Ron Westfall: Hello and welcome everyone to The 5G Factor. I’m Ron Westfall, Research Director here at The Futurum Group, and I’m joined here today by my distinguished colleague, Tom Hollingsworth, the networking nerd and Event Lead at Tech Field Day here also at The Futurum Group. In fact, I believe we are coming off a successful series of Tech Field Day events and you know what? There’s more coming ahead and we’ll touch on that in a moment. But today we’ll be focusing more specifically on 5G mobile ecosystem developments, and certainly the key ones that jumped out at us and merit our analysis. And with that, Tom, welcome back to The 5G Factor. How have you been bearing up since the last time you were on?
Tom Hollingsworth: Well, I’ve been busy. We had an opportunity to head over to Amsterdam, Cisco Live Europe, and got to hear about some of the cool advances that they’re making. There’s a lot of AI out there, but there’s a lot of cool networking as well. And it’s all coming together. We’re seeing the moves that are being made by the companies and how they’re combining to change the way that we do stuff, and so I’m excited for the future. And with Mobile World Congress coming up, who knows?
Ron Westfall: Oh, well, yes, perfect segue into the overall conversation. And before we really jump right in, speaking of Tech Field Day, we have a Networking Field Day 37 coming up on March 19th and 20th featuring key players such as BT and Selector AI. Any additional comments on, say, the upcoming Networking field Day event?
Tom Hollingsworth: Well, we’re really looking forward to hearing how a lot of these companies are doing challenges like sustainability but also doing force multiplication, and may have a couple more companies in store for you, but you’re going to have to check out techfieldday.com to learn a little bit more.
Ron Westfall: Exactly. And that I think is definitely warranted, and, well, hey, let’s go into the mobile ecosystem. And I think the first thing that we’ll address is Open RAN. And as we know, Open RAN has certainly been a constant theme for the last few years and its development, it’s been incremental I think is a good way of putting it. And what is going on now though might actually spur a bit more Open RAN adoption here. And to be specific, we see that Ericsson is demonstrating its commitment to Open RAN by advancing the O2 interface with Dell and Red Hat. And as background, why is the O2 interface important? Because it’s defined, first of all by, the O-RAN alliance and it plays a critical role in enabling the goals of Open RAN by supporting the dynamic and flexible management of cloud infrastructure that in turn supports RAN networks in a multiple vendor environment.
And so that’s really the underline right there, Open RAN. It’s really about enabling interoperability amongst multiple vendor products without really too much trouble. And as we know, it takes effort to get to that level where an operator can simply put these pieces together without having to think about it too much. And so what’s developing here is that Ericsson, Dell and Red Hat are carrying out proofs of concept to validate the implementation of the O2 interface. And that’s showing really the ability to integrate cloud ran management, which is aligned naturally with the Open RAN specifications for the O2 interface. So that’s really a follow-up on the O1 interface, really enabling now the interworking of the cloud components with the overall RAN implementation. And what is going on here is that the collaboration’s using Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks alongside Dell Telecom Infrastructure Automation Suite and Red Hat OpenShift, which is providing the northbound integration towards the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform, or EIAP. And that is its open network management and automation platform through the O2 IMS interface.
And also the O2 interface is providing that standard interface between the RAN management and automation layer and the O-Cloud infrastructure, so I touched that on already, but this is providing more detail as to why this is so critical. And what that does, it separates the infrastructure and the management layers, and it has two key functions. First of all, the O2 Infrastructure Management Service, or IMS, and that’s what we mean by IMS in this context, enables the hardware and software resource management as well as monitoring at distributed site locations, delivering workflow automation. I keep saying automation, that’s going to be critical, if not essential, for any Open RAN implementation, because when you put together these different components, you need to have automation built in, otherwise what’s the point of adopting open RAN actually?
And second, the O2 Deployment Management Service, or DMS, is responsible for the lifecycle management of the Open RAN network functions. And so automation and lifecycle management are basically joined at the hip. You basically have to have that in order to have just that, a robust automation implementation that’s reliable and is not going to cause the sweats at night should something go wrong, also as well as applications that are hosted by the O-Cloud. And so to your point, Tom, I’m definitely looking forward to the demonstration of this at Mobile World Congress ’25. And from your perspective, what else is going on not just with the O2 interface, but with the overall Open RAN cause?
Tom Hollingsworth: I like the fact that Ericsson’s really pushing the O2 interface, but not just paying lip service to it, they’re implementing it. And I feel like that maybe is one of the reasons why we never really got good implementation of OpenFlow as a software-defined networking system is because companies were interfacing with it, but they were never really adopting it. And yeah, okay, you could say Brocade probably did with their OpenDaylight controller, and we all know what happened to them, they’re four acquisitions down the road right now of their technology, but I feel like with Ericsson driving this and saying, “This is how you’re going to have to use it,” we’re eating our own dog food, drinking our own champagne, whatever idiom you want to use for that, they’re forcing companies to write to that spec, they’re forcing the companies to improve it.
That’s one of those things that you can’t lab this up. This has to meet the real world impact of it. And I love the fact that they’re following that same model. They’re decoupling the management plane and the data plane. They’re making sure that these resources can be moved around and can be utilized in ways that help scale. And that’s one of the things that Open RAN really needs to hit on is the ease of use, the ease of programming to the standard, and the fact that companies can adopt it without having to pay heavy licensing fees or play ball in somebody else’s court. Because what’s one of the other things you run into with other competing standards is, oh, well, if you want to play with us, you have to write to our standard instead of writing to develop the standard, which is something that companies really love.
And if you don’t believe me, go to the networking world and look at the fact that we adopted things like 802.3af standard power or 802.1q trunking, and basically that was an industry lining up against an incumbent saying, “Well, we’re going to develop our standard and everybody’s going to utilize it,” and basically drag the rest of the industry into that. I think with Ericsson leading the charge here and putting some real money behind the development and resources, developers, that they can really drive this as the leading standard for people to write to. Because when you have Dell and Red Hat riding to it, really all you got to do is get HPE on board and you’ve locked up pretty much every vendor out there.
Ron Westfall: And those are, I think, very important points, Tom. And I think it’s also well-timed in terms of the sales and marketing aspect. Yes, we’re heading into Mobile World Congress 2025, but I think it’s no secret that Ericsson’s gotten some grief over how it’s been implementing Open RAN. And I think specifically it’s related to the AT&T contract they won where they basically became the primary integrator for the implementation of AT&T’s 5G network and Open RAN capabilities moving forward. Although, yes, Fujitsu was included in that implementation on the radio side, but now we’re seeing Ericsson really upping the game here. It’s like, “Okay, we’re definitely working with very critical partners in the mobile ecosystem, certainly in 5G, and that includes naturally Dell, but also Red Hat and its OpenShift implementation.” And to your point about real world implementations, it’s worth noting that T-Mobile just recently picked Red Hat OpenShift for its cloud automation requirements.
So this is showing that Open RAN and key aspects such as cloud automation are definitely gathering momentum and steam. And these can, I think, be difference makers in ’25 as Open RAN… It basically takes on a larger share of the overall RAN pie. And speaking of market shares, I think it’s also important to look at what’s going on the device side. Now, there wasn’t a dramatic shift in market share here, but it could be moving the needle further down and it comes specifically to the iPhone, and that’s Apple announcing the iPhone 16e, and that’s a new addition to the iPhone 16 lineup that is designed to really offer powerful capabilities at a better price.
And the iPhone 16e is using the A 18 chip alongside the new Apple C1. And this is going to garner, I think, a great deal of attention because it’s the first cellular modem design by Apple, and iPhone 16e is also built for Apple Intelligence. And it’s really setting up to provide intuitive personal intelligence that delivers helpful and relevant intelligence while taking a step forward in privacy for AI. And what’s going on, the announcement is that the new Apple C1 is basically replacing the Qualcomm implementation here. And so, Tom, from your perspective, what do you think is a key takeaway about Apple coming out with the new iPhone 16e and announcing the C1?
Tom Hollingsworth: I think I’d be worried if I was Qualcomm, because this is one of those things that Apple is known for, just call Intel and ask them how that worked out for them when suddenly Apple wasn’t buying tons of Intel chips. There’s a reason why they want to do this. Well, first of all, we know that they bought this technology, the modem technology actually came from Intel, and they’ve been developing it for quite a while. I can remember reading the rumor sites and hearing folks like Mark Gurman saying, “Oh, the iPhone 13 is going to be the one that has the Apple modem in it. No, wait, 14. No, the 15.” Well, they finally got it right. And I think that the value is that if Apple controls the modem technology and they have a development team working on it, then they can do what they’ve done with the M-series chips, which is continue to drive innovation in the chip set that is Apple specific.
Look at, say, the M1, M4 Max processor, it is an arm processor, but it has specific layouts for things such as acceleration for video codecs, so when I’m doing video editing, I can toss the encoding jobs off there and they run a whole lot faster. Well, you may not think that that’s such a big deal unless you’re a video editor, but what if I could build those kinds of optimizations into a mobile device? What if I could make the battery life 25% longer for the same size? What if I can optimize certain other things for, I don’t know, Apple Intelligence? Do you see why it’s so important that Apple controls the whole chip set? Because they can already do that with the N slash A series. But if they could do that with the modem, they could do even more. They don’t have to wait for Qualcomm to continually release updates. They don’t have to be at the mercy of a company who’s supplying these parts. I think this is a huge leap forward.
Now, for those of you out there who are like, “Well, why did they do it with the iPhone 16e? This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.” Would you rather they have released it with, say, the iPhone 17, and if there are any problems to iron out that now you have a flagship device that has a massive amount of problems? This is how you do product development, this is how you release new features in a video game, this is how you release new hardware features. You take a small test case with a very specific aim, you implement a new piece of hardware, because the rest of the hardware is pretty much the same. It’s a known quantity, it’s basically the guts of an iPhone 16, but they’ve taken out some of the other little pieces like MagSafe, but now they’re trialing this modem. So if it blows up, then they can go back to the drawing board and they can fix it before it actually goes into a mainstream release.
That’s critical because I think when you get the iPhone 17, you are going to see Apple modems in the iPhone, you’re going to see Apple controlling that as we go along. And just for those of you who don’t understand how important that is, we are now two years past the release of the iPhone 15 with the USB charging port in it. Once the iPhone 16e was released, Apple no longer sells a device that has a lightning port on it. It only took them two years to rev from we’re trying this new idea to we’re all in on it and everything else is off the market. How long is it going to take for them to trigger a refresh where they no longer have to support Qualcomm modems? Because that’s the other thing, if I no longer have to write a software stack to support somebody else’s hardware, I can create tighter integrations. It’s one of the reasons why Mac has been such a stable operating system for so long is because they don’t have to support every hardware manufacturer under the sun. So I think this is an amazing move for Apple. The question is is it going to spur a company like Samsung to do the same thing or are they going to continue to buy from Qualcomm? And likewise, how’s Qualcomm going to react to it?
Ron Westfall: And I think those are all outstanding points, Tom, and I think one thing that is working to Qualcomm’s benefit is that this move has been anticipated by them as well as the overall mobile ecosystem for several years now. Now, theoretically, had this happened, I’d say, two years ago, I would say the impact of Qualcomm would’ve been a bit more direct and more concerning. However, I think that Qualcomm has really been doing an effective job of anticipating this and preparing the fact that, hey, we are going to continue on with our revenue diversification strategy that’s really been already paying off in terms of playing in areas such as automotive, such as IoT and so forth, and so this is something that I don’t think is going to cause much of a drag for Qualcomm. Also, Qualcomm’s planning assumption remains that it’ll be 20% share for the 2026 launch with the current chip and QCT agreement that ends after that with really no renewal being assuming to kick in.
And also it’s a reminder that the chipset and licensing agreements are separate, and so that means that Qualcomm’s technology licensing, or QTL, has a license agreement with Apple that will continue to run through 2027. So they have I think a great deal of buffer and runway here to adjust to the fact that Apple has finally replaced the modem aspect of working with Qualcomm when it comes to the iPhone. Now let’s look at what’s going on in terms of the core of the network. We’re going from the device to the core, so we’re really doing an ecosystem stretch here. I think it’s interesting to note that Telstra, at least it’s promoting itself, as becoming the first operator in the Asia-Pacific region to benefit from a programmable network with 5G advanced capabilities due to its collaboration with Ericsson. And what’s important here is that under this four year deal, Telstra will upgrade its RAN with Ericsson’s next generation Open RAN hardware and 5G advanced software. It’ll also implement AI and automation to optimize network management through self detection and self-healing capabilities. Also, and you invoked this already, Tom, is the fact that it can open that network to more developers across the wider mobile ecosystem through network APIs and, who knows, further out Agentic AI.
So looking at what’s going on with network APIs, this is good news because with more developers looking at how can we leverage the Telstra networks that enable more cool applications and capabilities, it’s also, I think, important to note that this is showing there’s momentum here that’s paralleling what’s going on on the Open RAN side. So what we’re going to do is find out how 5G advanced network capabilities can work in a production network, and Telstra I think will be a good example of this, and that includes leveraging a wider array of API’s. And with that, Tom, what do you think is important here in terms of not just the fact, okay, that Telstra and Ericsson have gotten together to put the pedal to 5G advanced capabilities, but also enabling network programmability and 5G networks?
Tom Hollingsworth: I think it’s super critical because one of the things that we hear a lot about is how programmability is going to extend our networks, but it’s difficult to see it upfront. And one of the ways that I have seen it personally in the Wi-Fi world is through radio resource management, being able to look at the airspace around you and make decisions about where clients need to go and how we need to allocate resources so that it works out a little bit better in general for everyone. Now, scale that up to a city or a county basically, that’s what Telstra is talking about doing here. And not only that, but if you are someone who is providing a service that runs across that network, being able to tap into it and pull data and statistics is super critical.
So think about something like security camera footage or something like that. If I have a remote device that is uploading pictures of security camera footage for a given timeframe window, what have you, if I know that congestion is low and during a certain time of the day, I can program my system to look for those statistics and upload during that time so that I can ensure proper transmission or cheaper transmission, because it’s another thing that people need to understand is that there’s still a cost associated with moving this data around, and that’s just one of the applications that you can come up off the top of your head.
But by programming to that standard, by making sure that people are utilizing Ericsson’s O-RAN specifications and capabilities, they’re ensuring that whatever comes out the other side is compatible with other O-RAN, but that gives them leverage to ensure that more customers are writing their specifications to O-RAN so that more people are going to demand either use of that technology or would consider picking Ericsson as a provider in the future, knowing that I get 98% of the things that I need from a functionality perspective with an interface that my developers are already comfortable writing to.
Ron Westfall: And I think it definitely brings out that it’s a worldwide phenomenon 5G network capabilities and the fact that Telstra, Ericsson are laying claim to be the first in Asia-Pacific, okay, we’ll include Oceania as part of Asia-Pacific for the purposes of understanding what’s going on here, but I think it’s demonstrating, yes, Openness can make a difference in relation to, say, relatively closed networks such as in mainland China where there’s a lot of progress and innovation going on. However, I would say when it comes to these areas, Open RAN as well as network programmability, we’re seeing how there can be differences at least when it comes to time to market and delivering capabilities that will ultimately prove that 5G can actually deliver the things we’ve been hearing about for a few years now. But now we’re actually finally getting networks that are not only our 5G standalone, but are also supporting actual 5G advanced capabilities.
And I think this is good news already heading into Mobile World Congress and I’m certainly looking forward to talking about these programmability capabilities at the event itself, not just with Ericsson, but certainly with all the operators that are there, Deutsche Telekom cetera. So this is going to be, I think, an ongoing ecosystem momentum aspect that we’ll be talking about more in upcoming 5G factors. And with that, thank you again everybody for joining us and be sure to bookmark The 5G Factor, we’re on The Futurum Group website, as well as Tech Field Day and what we touched on in terms of upcoming Tech Field Day events. And again, Tom, thank you for joining and hopefully there’s a successful Tech Field Day event coming up here shortly.
Tom Hollingsworth: There always is. You can check out techfieldday.com for the schedule and, if you pay attention, you might even see one of the other co-hosts there on a regular basis.
Ron Westfall: Naturally, and I know I’ll be there. So with that, thank you again everyone. Have a great Open RAN and 5G day.
Author Information
Ron is an experienced, customer-focused research expert and analyst, with over 20 years of experience in the digital and IT transformation markets, working with businesses to drive consistent revenue and sales growth.
He is a recognized authority at tracking the evolution of and identifying the key disruptive trends within the service enablement ecosystem, including a wide range of topics across software and services, infrastructure, 5G communications, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), analytics, security, cloud computing, revenue management, and regulatory issues.
Prior to his work with The Futurum Group, Ron worked with GlobalData Technology creating syndicated and custom research across a wide variety of technical fields. His work with Current Analysis focused on the broadband and service provider infrastructure markets.
Ron holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy from University of Nevada — Las Vegas and a Bachelor of Arts in political science/government from William and Mary.
