Broadcom has reportedly been raising VMware pricing following its acquisition of the company. In response, EchoStar suggested its open RAN network will allow it to transition to another vendor.
A top executive in EchoStar's Boost Mobile business suggested the company's open RAN network could protect it from the pricing increases AT&T has experienced with Broadcom's VMware.
"People aren't holding an architectural gun to my head," CTO Eben Albertyn told Light Reading. He said that, thanks to the open RAN technology inside of EchoStar's 5G network, he is able to quickly remove products from vendors if they begin raising prices.
"What we'll be doing next is proving that open RAN does what it says, which is the ability to take major components of your network and exchange them for something else, if the situation so warrants it," Albertyn said. He added that EchoStar would soon change the containerized software platform it uses to one from a different vendor.
Albertyn pointed to companies that have had troubles with vendors raising prices. He specifically named AT&T, noting the operator recently took "a certain software company to court" because that company was doing "some weird things."
AT&T recently filed a lawsuit against Broadcom claiming the new VMware parent company had illegally changed the terms of AT&T's decades-long agreements to use VMware's virtualized cloud platform.
Albertyn declined to provide details on EchoStar's plans, noting the company was not yet ready to discuss the situation. "We're very soon going to make a statement," he said.
EchoStar's Dish Network announced in 2020 that it would run some 5G network functions inside of the VMware Telco Cloud via a new multi-year agreement between the two companies.
EchoStar is the result of the merger between Dish Network and EchoStar last year. Since that merger, EchoStar has begun applying the Boost Mobile brand to the open RAN 5G network Dish Network built before the merger.
The AT&T situation
VMware has long supplied software platforms to telecom operators like AT&T and EchoStar. Broadcom closed its acquisition of VMware last year, and since then reports have emerged of Broadcom enacting pricing increases on VMware customers.
In its new lawsuit against Broadcom, AT&T disclosed the extent of those pricing increases.
"This proposed annual increase of +1,050% in one year is extreme and certainly not how we expect strategic partners to engage in doing business with AT&T," AT&T's Susan Johnson wrote to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, according to AT&T filings in the case.
According to AT&T's filings, the operator has 75,000 virtual machines (VMs) across approximately 8,600 servers running VMware software.
As noted by Ars Technica, Broadcom has stopped selling VMware perpetual software licenses, and the company said that AT&T missed its opportunity to renew its VMware contract. AT&T and Broadcom are now reportedly negotiating a possible resolution.
The situation highlights the leverage that some vendors may have over network operators like AT&T.
And open RAN technology could provide a solution, according to proponents. Open RAN promises to allow network operators to mix and match products from vendors like a child playing with various colors of Legos. Dish Network operator EchoStar has long touted the benefits it sees from using open RAN technology in its network.
Indeed, open RAN supporters this week met in Dublin, where they discussed the potential for new vendors to use the technology to enter the telecom market. AT&T officials spoke at the event, discussing AT&T's shift to open RAN with vendor Ericsson.
The new Boost Mobile
According to Albertyn, the Boost Mobile network is now primed to be the most advanced, and reliable, wireless network in the US. He also said he expects EchoStar to meet its revised FCC network buildout requirements.
The Boost Mobile network currently stretches across roughly 20,000 cell sites, and ought to cover around 80% of the US population by the end of this year. The company also has MVNO agreements with AT&T and T-Mobile. Further, according to one report, over 500,000 customers have accessed the Boost Mobile network since the beginning of this year.
Albertyn is one of a new batch of executives overseeing EchoStar's efforts in 5G. He's also the replacement for Marc Rouanne, who was hired in 2019 as the architect of Dish's 5G network. Rouanne left EchoStar earlier this year to found startup Edgescale AI.
Albertyn works under John Swieringa, the COO of EchoStar and the executive in charge of the company's wireless business. Albertyn works alongside Satish Sharma (in charge of expanding Boost Mobile's network) and Jeff McSchooler (in charge of Boost Mobile's engineering and operations).
Some top executives in Albertyn's team include Mike Murphy, Boost Mobile's SVP of technology development and strategy. Murphy is a longtime wireless networking executive with stints at Nokia and Ericsson.
Another top executive in Albertyn's team is Amit Bhardwaj, Boost's SVP of national RAN and device engineering. Bhardwaj is responsible for Boost Mobile's RAN planning and optimization, and he too has worked at companies like Ericsson and Nokia.
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