ETSI releases first O-RAN specification

ETSI and O-RAN are pleased to announce that ETSI has adopted the first O-RAN specification as ETSI TS 103 859, namely ‘O-RAN Fronthaul Control, User and Synchronization Plane Specification v7.02’. The document focuses on Open Fronthaul, one of interfaces in the O-RAN Architecture for open and intelligent Radio Access Networks. It specifies the control plane, user plane and synchronization plane protocols used over the fronthaul interface linking the O-DU (O-RAN Distributed Unit) and the O-RU (O-RAN Radio Unit) for the lower layer functional splits. The scope of TS 103 859 includes both LTE and NR (5G).

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“Recognition of O-RAN specifications by ETSI is another major step in enabling broad adoption of Open RAN,” said Claire Chauvin, O-RAN Board member and Strategy Architecture and Standardization Director at Orange. “Having the O-RAN specification available as an ETSI specification adds further endorsement desired by commercial and public sector entities in a range of countries.”

“The O-RAN specification has been approved as an ETSI specification after a thorough review and requested revisions by our experts,” said Dominique Everaere, Chair of the ETSI Mobile Standards Group Technical Committee. “When specifications go through the ETSI PAS process, they need to comply with the ETSI rules, and the ETSI committee in charge of these specifications works with the organization to ensure they align with existing procedures for approval as ETSI standards.”

The ETSI Publicly Available Specification (PAS) process enables an ETSI partner to submit one or more of its PAS for adoption by ETSI. It can then become an ETSI Technical Specification (TS) or ETSI Technical Report (TR). The organization asking for this process must be a legal entity, have an IPR policy compatible with ETSI’s or have exceptionally accepted to apply ETSI’s IPR policy, and have signed a Cooperation Agreement.

O-RAN is preparing to submit more of its specifications to the ETSI PAS process to recognize additional parts of the O-RAN Architecture as ETSI specifications.

About ETSI

ETSI provides members with an open and inclusive environment to support the development, ratification and testing of globally applicable standards for ICT systems and services across all sectors of industry and society. We are a non-profit body, with more than 900 member organizations worldwide, drawn from 64 countries and five continents. The members comprise a diversified pool of large and small private companies, research entities, academia, government, and public organizations. ETSI is officially recognized by the EU as a European Standardization Organization (ESO). For more information, please visit us at https://www.etsi.org/.

About O-RAN ALLIANCE

The O-RAN ALLIANCE is a world-wide community of more than 320 mobile operators, vendors, and research & academic institutions operating in the Radio Access Network (RAN) industry. As the RAN is an essential part of any mobile network, the O-RAN ALLIANCE’s mission is to re-shape the industry towards more intelligent, open, virtualized and fully interoperable mobile networks. The new O-RAN specifications enable a more competitive and vibrant RAN supplier ecosystem with faster innovation to improve user experience. O-RAN based mobile networks at the same time improve the efficiency of RAN deployments as well as operations by the mobile operators. To achieve this, the O-RAN ALLIANCE publishes new RAN specifications, releases open software for the RAN, and supports its members in integration and testing of their implementations.

For more information, please visit www.o-ran.org.

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Contact information

ETSI Press contact:
Claire Boyer
Tel.: +33 (0)6 87 60 84 40
Email: claire.boyer@etsi.org

O-RAN ALLIANCE PR Contact:
Zbynek Dalecky
pr@o-ran.org
O-RAN ALLIANCE e.V.
Buschkauler Weg 27
53347 Alfter/Germany