Qualcomm's 5G RAN chips finally hit the market... in VietnamQualcomm's 5G RAN chips finally hit the market... in Vietnam

Roughly four years after getting into the market, Qualcomm finally has something to show for its RAN ambitions: Viettel in Vietnam is now operating commercial 5G sites using Qualcomm's radio access network (RAN) products.

By early next year, Viettel said it expects to operate 300 such sites across Vietnam, with "the potential for thousands more."

Viettel counts around 66 million mobile customers in Vietnam, representing more than half the country's mobile market share.

Viettel's hardware division, Viettel High Tech, built the operator's new open RAN sites using Qualcomm's X100 5G RAN chipset platform for virtualized distributed units (vDUs) and Qualcomm's QRU100 5G RAN chipset platform for Massive MIMO radio units (RUs). Viettel High Tech is also using Qualcomm's Edgewise software for RAN management, a product that stems from Qualcomm's 2022 acquisition of Cellwize.

Initial expectations

Qualcomm described the launch as a "big accomplishment" that is roughly in line with the company's expectations.

However, Qualcomm's RAN business today doesn't quite line up with its early expectations for the effort.

Qualcomm announced its re-entry into the RAN business in 2020. At the time, the company touted support from a wide array of operators including Verizon, Vodafone and Rakuten. It also said that it was directly working with Reliance Jio in India and Jio's Radisys equipment vendor subsidiary on 5G RAN platforms.

In 2022, Qualcomm offered an update on its RAN efforts, promising commercial open RAN products running its silicon in the market by the latter part of 2023.

Now, roughly a year after missing that goal, Qualcomm touts one commercial deployment (in Vietnam) and another on the way: Docomo in Japan said earlier this year it would deploy NEC's vDU running Qualcomm X100 5G RAN accelerator card.

Qualcomm has also boasted of support from two other radio vendors, Mavenir and Fujitsu. However, both of those companies work with a wide range of silicon vendors, from Intel to Nvidia, and are by no means tied to Qualcomm's products.

The broader market

Of course, Qualcomm's overall progress in the market must be viewed in context. 

Broadly, the 5G RAN market has slowed down dramatically in the four years since Qualcomm announced its entry into the sector. Dell'Oro Group recently reported that global RAN revenues in the first three quarters of 2023 were down year-over-year by at least 10% and possibly as much as 20%. This, according to Dell'Oro analyst Stefan Pongratz, is "paving the way for one of the worst years since we started tracking the market in 2000."

Qualcomm is one of several vendors that tied its hopes to an open RAN networking trend. Open RAN proponents had initially hoped that the technology – which promises to create interoperable links between various RAN components – would allow operators to mix and match equipment from a variety of vendors, thereby opening opportunities to new market entrants. 

But Dell'Oro now predicts that multi-vendor RAN deployments will account for just 10% of the overall market by 2028. Meaning, most open RAN networks will comprise just one vendor, such as AT&T's open RAN deployment with Ericsson.

Qualcomm isn't alone in chasing the RAN market, however. Intel's chips have mostly enjoyed a lock on early open RAN deployments. Others in the market include AMD, Marvell and Broadcom. Meanwhile, Nvidia is hoping to use its AI momentum to sell its RAN chips and software.

The bulk of Qualcomm's overall business involves selling its chips to smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung. Qualcomm is also working to expand into other areas, including the Internet of things (IoT) sector and the automotive industry.