Parallel Wireless, a leader in Open RAN and GreenRAN™ platform hardware-independent solutions, announced a partnership with SOLiD, leader of distributed antenna system (DAS) indoor mobile telecommunications systems, delivering greater flexibility to cellular service providers. This newly forged partnership will allow service providers to dramatically reduce their solution footprint and operating costs by reducing complexity, price, required real estate and power consumption, which can now be reduced by more than 80 percent.

Deploying indoor wireless sites constitutes the most intricate and costly aspect within any network operator. Across shopping malls, hospitals, underground trains or stadiums, the deployment typically spans vast and complex parameters. Operators must design both coverage and capacity to accommodate the substantial user volume and interactions with surrounding macro sites. The sheer scale of deployment results in complexities, notably the considerable amount of radio access equipment required on-site to meet the extensive coverage and capacity demands. This necessitates the deployment of numerous high-power RRHs and vBBUs for the indoor sites, occupying substantial real estate within the building, consuming significant power and using air conditioning to cool down the equipment inside the room.

Additionally, these deployments usually encompass multiple operators, thereby resulting in a doubling of the quantity of equipment involved. To address this, Parallel Wireless and SOLiD’s partnership provides customers with an Open RAN-powered DAS that operates with each antenna resembling a small base station equipped with multiple transmitters. Using an Open RAN interface, the active DAS solution is connected through a fiber optic to a datacenter vBBU. This partnership removes the need for high-power radios (RRHs), saves on real estate in closed venues, and reduces cooling system requirements, thereby resulting in a huge reduction in power consumption and footprint.

“Indoor deployment is one of the most complex and costly challenges in any operator network," said Steve Papa, founder and CEO at Parallel Wireless. “Using Parallel Wireless’ joint solution with SOLiD’s DAS, vBBU servers can be installed 10s of kilometers away from the site on an edge datacenter without compromising signal quality or capacity parameters.” This works to further reduce operating costs, reducing investment requirements in both CapEx and OpEx, while enabling lower maintenance costs. Open RAN introduces new possibilities for DAS, unlocking unparalleled opportunities for enhanced network flexibility, efficiency and total cost of ownership savings.

“We’re proud to be an established provider of DAS solutions that are always pushing the ability of today’s cellular networks,” said Steven Gallagher, VP of sales at SOLiD. “SOLiD recently introduced a new Open RAN interface unit that mitigates between its traditional existing DAS system and Open RAN technology using standard e-CPRI ORAN interface for the fronthaul.” This allows operators to continue expanding their network on indoor sites without the costly overhead that is often associated with covering high-density areas.

SOLiD is recognized as a well-established active DAS solution provider with hundreds of live deployments in Europe, and the collaboration with Parallel Wireless marks a pivotal moment in the telecommunications landscape, promising unparalleled advancements in indoor cellular connection and service provisioning while significantly reducing operational complexities and costs.