Mavenir, a leader in cloud-native network infrastructure, has partnered with Three UK and Red Hat, a global provider of open source solutions, to successfully trial the UK’s first deployment of 5G non-isolated Open RAN (O-RAN) compliant small cells in a dense urban setting.
This pioneering trial, conducted in the heart of Glasgow, marks a significant milestone in Open RAN development. It is the first time O-RAN compliant small cells have been deployed in a high-traffic city center environment, operating alongside legacy macro cells from traditional vendors. This integration has provided enhanced mobile coverage and significantly boosted network capacity, helping to ease traffic congestion across the area.
During peak usage hours, the trial delivered impressive results—doubling both 4G and 5G speeds. Notably, Three UK’s 5G network speeds soared to an impressive 520Mbps across the trial zone. These enhancements also brought measurable improvements in performance and user experience at nearby sites.
Building on the success of 18 live sites already active in central Glasgow, the project is now advancing into its final deployment phase. Once completed, the Open RAN small cell footprint will expand to 34 live sites, underscoring its role in driving next-generation network performance.
This deployment is part of the SCONDA (Small Cells O-RAN in Dense Areas) project—an initiative supported by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). It represents the UK’s first large-scale integration of fully distributed Open RAN architecture with existing network infrastructure in a complex, high-footfall urban environment.
Mavenir’s end-to-end 4G and 5G O-RAN solution is at the heart of this initiative. The company’s OpenBeam small cell radios, powered by Red Hat OpenShift—Kubernetes-based hybrid cloud platform—are deployed on street infrastructure throughout Glasgow. These small cells work to offload traffic from existing macro networks, enabling automated performance optimization in a multi-vendor, multi-technology environment.
Three UK is leveraging Red Hat OpenShift to deploy an open virtual RAN (vRAN) network that integrates seamlessly with its existing 4G core, operating in tandem with its traditional radio access infrastructure.
Also Read: Fibocom Launches FG390 5G Module with MediaTek T930, AI
“This network densification project demonstrates how the open RAN layer built by Mavenir can efficiently and effectively serve the needs of Three UK and its customers in one of the UK’s busiest cities. Our solution doubled 5G speeds, delivered measurable capacity increases and achieved impressive subscriber traffic handover. This is a powerful demonstration that open RAN can be fully integrated with traditional vendors – a breakthrough that brings cost savings and flexibility and is catching the attention of radio network design teams around the world,” said Brandon Larson, SVP Cloud and AI at Mavenir.
“Mavenir and Red Hat are the perfect partners for this groundbreaking project, the UK’s first Open RAN trial, tackling the real-world complexities of dense urban environments. We’ve pushed the boundaries and proven that an Open RAN approach can be invaluable to network design and deployment,” added Iain Milligan, Chief Network Officer, Three UK.
“Urban deployments present a different level of technical and operational challenges than rural deployments. They needed to address integration with legacy systems, security layers and evolving software while providing measurable improvements to users. The results of this trial are promising and provide a strong foundation for further expansion and optimization of Open RAN in cities,” he continued.
“Red Hat and Mavenir share a commitment to providing service providers with optimized Open RAN solutions to improve network performance and unlock next-generation 5G use cases,” said Honoré LaBourdette, Vice President, Global Telecommunications Ecosystem, Red Hat. “We are pleased to work with Mavenir to help Three UK improve customer experience and streamline operations in the City of Glasgow by deploying an integrated 5G Standalone Open RAN solution powered by Red Hat OpenShift.”
This latest deployment is the result of a long-standing collaboration between Mavenir and Red Hat, combining over a decade of innovation to deliver carrier-grade telco cloud solutions. Mavenir’s RAN applications running on Red Hat OpenShift offer mobile operators a powerful and flexible foundation to accelerate Open RAN rollouts.
Key Advantages of Mavenir on Red Hat OpenShift Include:
-
Full-Stack Automation: Integration with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes and Mavenir’s Cloud-Native Automation provides seamless Day 1 and Day 2 operations.
-
Streamlined Deployment: Pre-integrated and pre-tested reference architecture reduces complexity and speeds up integration.
-
Scalable Architecture: Flexible design scales with demand, leveraging Red Hat OpenShift for faster network rollout.
-
Robust Security: Comprehensive security capabilities including container isolation, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), kernel-level runtime protections (seccomp, SELinux), and network segmentation support mobile operators in meeting compliance and security objectives.
As Open RAN continues to gain momentum across global markets, the success of this Glasgow deployment positions Mavenir, Three UK, and Red Hat at the forefront of next-generation mobile network innovation.