MWC Las Vegas – We don't have time for open RAN

Light Reading's editors discuss the past week of telecom industry panels, posturing and pronouncements from the god-forsaken Nevada desert.

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Phil Harvey, Mike Danoand 1 more

September 28, 2023

LAS VEGAS – MWC23 – Innovation was the marketing theme of this week's gathering of "over 8,000" attendees at the American edition of Mobile World Congress, but network openness and spectrum sharing were the top discussion points in the convention hallways and hotel lobbies.

In this video, Light Reading's Mike Dano and Phil Harvey discuss some highlights from the show, including the White House and Defense Department conversations on spectrum sharing facilitated by the National Spectrum Coalition and the resilience and hope during wartime offered by Kyivstar CTO Volodymyr Lutchenko.

And, yes, they did have time for open RAN. Mike and Phil discussed the industry's reluctance to build open networks despite this being a request from federal government agencies.

The editors also recap Ericsson's announcement from earlier this week and discuss whether that was a step toward more industry fragmentation.

Unfortunately, the duo did not take the time to explore the intricacies and implications of net neutrality since the room they chose to film in did not have a large enough chalkboard to scratch their fingernails on.

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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Mike Dano

Mike Dano

Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading

Mike Dano is Light Reading's Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies. Mike can be reached at [email protected], @mikeddano or on LinkedIn.

Based in Denver, Mike has covered the wireless industry as a journalist for almost two decades, first at RCR Wireless News and then at FierceWireless and recalls once writing a story about the transition from black and white to color screens on cell phones.

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Pierre Landriau

Pierre Landriau

Video Producer and BBQ Expert, Light Reading

Pierre Landriau, a.k.a. "Le French Producer Extraordinaire," knows his way around B2B video marketing after working at three major UK publishing companies: Haymarket, UBM and now Informa. Pierre edits and produces all of Light Reading's podcasts, maintains that he's listed on IMBD, and claims he once wormed his way into MTV for a day or two.

Pierre is based in London and can be reached at [email protected].

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