Vodafone UK revealed it was working on indoor small cell kit based on open RAN technology alongside vendor Mavenir, with the operator planning to sell the system to its business customers.

The infrastructure is being designed for use by enterprises in medium or large office settings as a plug-and-play connectivity system. Vodafone noted it would be interoperable with radio units, baseband hardware and gateways provided by any open RAN vendor.

Vodafone UK chief network officer Andrea Dona explained deployment of open RAN so far “has focused on outdoor connectivity, but there is significant potential for this technology in the office environment”.

He added the new product would enhance its existing indoor range.

Development of the small cell product is the latest in Vodafone’s support of open networking technologies.

In addition to being vocal on the benefits of open RAN and conducting various trials, the operator last month announced it planned to deploy what it claimed would be Europe’s first commercial network using the architecture.