Game-Changing Network Upgrade: Inside Ericsson’s Newest Collaboration

TOKYO, JAPAN– FEBRUARY 27th, 2025–Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), together with OKINAWA CELLULAR TELEPHONE COMPANY, KDDI Corporation, and KDDI Corporation has achieved an important milestone for the commercial use of its 4th Generation Radio Access Network (RAN) compute platform in an outdoor commercial network at Okinawa. This is the pioneering implementation of its sort in the Northeast region of Asia.

The deployment of the advanced RAN compute platform built on the newest Ericsson Silicon 4G/5G/5G Advanced, supports the evolution of 5G software networks and the Open RAN paradigm. It enhances programmable networks’ creation for telecom carriers.

Importantly, one of the most significant components of this platform, the Radio Processor 6355, has been reduced by more than 35 percent in both size and energy usage compared to previous products. 

This level of miniaturization and energy efficiency meets the needs of telecom carriers to lower their site operational expenses, especially within the Distributed RAN where the compute product is placed at the same site as laptops and radio devices.

Chafic Nassif, Ericsson senior vice president and head of Northeast Asia region, said 

“Launching the newest generation RAN compute platform in collaboration with KDDI and OKINAWA CELLULAR is another significant step in mobility not just for Japan but also for Northeast Asia.”

“The advancement improves further our existing offerings and is also a movement towards realization of an AI programmable networks and offering a more dependable and sustainable service,” Said Marugome.

 As the OKINAWA CELLULAR Engineering Division General Manager adds,

 “We are very happy to have done the initial deployment evaluation of the 4th generation RAN Compute platform at OKINAWA CELLULAR. This product achieves further power savings and miniaturization, which we believe will help reduce the total cost of ownership of OKINAWA CELLULAR’s network. We will also continue to partner with Ericsson and the KDDI Group to advance the network in Okinawa, Japan.” 

Mr. Hiromasa Sugisaki, General Manager of Access Network Technical Division at KDDI said,

 “The KDDI Group is glad as together with Ericsson we are able to carry out the first deployment evaluation of the 4th generation RAN Compute Platform at OKINAWA CELLULAR. It not only helps to attain carbon neutrality by lessening power usage but also complies with O-RAN which captures the KDDI Group’s goal of deploying open and flexible networks.”

Furthermore, it’s hardware that expects the role of AI in effective network management, and we anticipate further product and software improvements as well.
This deployment marks an important step in the development of mobile networks in the area as it improves both the efficiency and the environmental performance of the region.

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