By Diplomacy Journal Lee Kap-soo

Samsung Electronics and TELUS announced on Sept. 18 that they will deploy Canada’s first commercial Radio Access Network Intelligent Controller (RIC), marking a significant milestone toward fully software-based, AI-powered networks.

Samsung will provide its RIC solution, including open multi-vendor support and a rich suite of applications as part of Samsung CognitiV Network Operations Suite (NOS), to further enable intelligent automation, enhanced energy efficiency and optimized performance across TELUS’ wireless network.

The RIC is a software-based component in Open RAN (O-RAN) architecture that uses AI and automation to optimize network performance with intelligent applications.

It enables operators to flexibly deploy and manage diverse applications for comprehensive monitoring and analysis as well as energy-saving operations, helping them optimize networks, manage resources efficiency and elevate service quality.

“We are excited to broaden our collaboration with Samsung to transform our network and enhance the customer experience using AI,” said Bernard Bureau, Vice President of Wireless Strategy & Services at TELUS.

“AI is ushering in a new era of possibilities and in order to fully realize its potential across industries, the right foundation is critical. At Samsung, we believe vRAN is the best way forward on the path to AI-RAN, built on an end-to-end software-based architecture that provides the optimal foundation for AI. We are actively supporting our customers’ AI journey today with our proven vRAN and AI-powered solutions including RIC,” said Angelo Jeongho Park, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.