Dubbed Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), the standard reduces reliance on any one vendor by making every part of a telecom network interoperable and allowing operators to choose different suppliers for different components.

Currently, Nokia along with Ericsson and Huawei, supply most of the equipment for building telecom networks and mobile operators can only pick one for each part of their network

Under the cunning plan, Nokia plans to deploy Open RAN interfaces in its baseband and radio units, a spokesman said. An initial set of Open RAN functionalities will become available this year, while the full suite of interfaces is expected to be available in 2021, the company said.