# AT&T's $14bn Open RAN bet hits 50% of traffic as the standard turns toward 6G
> AT&T targets 70% of wireless traffic on open-capable platforms by end-2026; live third-party radio calls and Vodafone's European rollout mark Open RAN's slow surge

**Meta:** type: story · date: 2026-06-10 · heads: 長期戦, 誰の金か · 9 takes · 4 lenses · 3 regions

## Summary

[AT&T](/ja/entity/att)'s up-to-$14bn, five-year [Ericsson](/ja/entity/ericsson) deal, the largest Open RAN commitment by
any operator, has moved roughly 50% of its wireless traffic onto open-capable platforms,
toward a 70% target by end-2026, with [Nokia](/ja/entity/telecom) gear stripped from large parts of
the network and the first live calls over third-party (1Finity/Fujitsu) radios completed. In
Europe, [Vodafone](/ja/entity/open-ran) runs commercial Open RAN in the UK and Romania, targets 2,500
UK sites by 2027 and 30% of European masts by 2030. Rakuten Mobile in Japan added Airspan
radios. [Ericsson](/ja/entity/ericsson), once a holdout, is now among the O-RAN Alliance's most active
contributors, supplying the RAN Intelligent Controller for non-Ericsson equipment as the
industry eyes [5g](/ja/entity/5g)-to-6G.

## By the numbers

- $14bn, AT&T's five-year Ericsson Open RAN deal (largest by any operator).
- ~50%, share of AT&T traffic on open-capable platforms, target 70% by end-2026.
- 2,500, UK Open RAN sites Vodafone targets by 2027.
- 30%, European masts Vodafone aims to run on Open RAN by 2030.
- 5M+, Rakuten Mobile subscribers across 15+ vendors at 99.5% availability.

## Why it matters

Open RAN promises to break vendor lock-in (Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei) by letting operators
mix radios, software and silicon, a supply-chain and national-security goal as much as a
cost one. AT&T's scale is the closest thing yet to proof it can carry a tier-1 network.

## What to watch

- Whether AT&T actually hits 70% of traffic on open platforms by end-2026.
- Vodafone's Wismar and UK site count against its 2027 target.
- How Open RAN architecture shapes early 6G standard decisions.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### telecom trade
- **Fierce Network** (United States, en) — Reports AT&T's latest Open RAN milestone with Ericsson and 1Finity/Fujitsu radios in live conditions, and progress toward moving 70% of wireless traffic onto open-capable platforms by end-2026.
  > "AT&T marks its latest Open RAN achievement with Ericsson and 1Finity radios."
  Source: https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/att-marks-latest-open-ran-achievement-ericsson-1finity

### operator (primary-ish)
- **Vodafone** (United Kingdom, en) — Vodafone's own account of its Open RAN rollout, live sites in the UK and Romania, Wismar as a first fully-equipped city, and a goal of 30% of European masts on Open RAN by 2030.
  > "Vodafone advances a future-ready, Open RAN-based radio access network."
  Source: https://www.vodafone.com/news/newsroom/technology/vodafone-advances-future-ready-radio-access-network

### telecom analyst
- **SDxCentral** (United States, en) — Details AT&T's up-to-$14bn, five-year Ericsson deal, the largest Open RAN commitment by any operator, and the removal of Nokia gear from large parts of the network.
  > "AT&T taps Ericsson for a $14B Open RAN plan, the largest such operator commitment."
  Source: https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/att-taps-ericsson-for-14b-open-ran-plan/

### unlabelled
- **Mobile World Live** (United Kingdom, en) — 
  Source: https://www.mobileworldlive.com/att/att-ericsson-make-live-open-ran-call
- **Data Center Dynamics** (United Kingdom, en) — 
  Source: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/att-and-rakuten-symphony-sign-open-ran-extension/
- **5G World Pro** (Europe, en) — 
  Source: https://5gworldpro.com/blog/2026/03/10/the-real-5g-open-ran-numbers-in-2026/
- **First Point Group** (United Kingdom, en) — 
  Source: https://www.firstpointgroup.com/resources/blog/open-ran-market-update/
- **Fierce Network (analysis)** (United States, en) — 
  Source: https://www.fierce-network.com/wireless/despite-2025-turbulence-open-ran-poised-2026-surge
- **7G.network** (Europe, en) — 
  Source: https://7g.network/articles/open-ran-progress-2026/

## Across the graph
- Related: [[fcc-aws3-spectrum-auction-2026]], [[tier1-network-outages-june-2026]]
- Entities: Telecom, Open Ran, 5g, Att, Ericsson

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Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/ja/n/open-ran-att-ericsson-2026