Taiwan Mobile was the first company from Taiwan to join the Telecom Infra Project (TIP)

March 01,2023

 In the 5G era, an open framework solution that offers flexible purchase options, multi-function systems and cost-effective infrastructure will garner the liking of more telecommunication companies. On March 1, Taiwan showcased its international 5G capabilities at this year's MWC in Barcelona. With the support of the Industrial Development Bureau, Taiwan Mobile announced at a news conference that day that it had teamed up with the TIP Community Lab under the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to help companies obtain 5G OpenRAN test badge validation, making Taiwan Mobile the first Taiwanese firm able to assess their potential suppliers that gain an ITRI-affiliated TIP badge.

 

 With that advantage, Taiwan Mobile will work with TIP certified partners in the creation of a global OpenRAN ecosystem.

 

A private 5G network catalyzes the need for 5G OpenRAN related products and applications, which will benefit Taiwanese telecommunication industry that has in the past accumulated much experience in the manufacturing and creating solution systems for internet-related products. Now, it needs to set up its own standards in order to break into the 5G OpenRAN market.

 

 Taiwan Mobile works with the ITRI to aid companies in gaining their TIP certifications and acquire official testing reports, helping them automatically become suppliers of Taiwan Mobile in future sales of products and equipment  for a private 5G network and help establish an OpenRAN ecosystem.

 

 This will in turn increase the need for 5G OpenRAN products and applications for top-down industry wide testing while simultaneously expanding the private 5G network ecosystem.

 

 Tom Koh, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Taiwan Mobile said, “OpenRAN enables Taiwan Mobile to select the best-in-breed product with the greatest price-performance, from a wide array of vendors offering open, disaggregated, and innovative solutions.  Validating the functionality, performance, interoperability, and stability of so many products is a challenge not only for operators but also for vendors. The TIP Community Lab accreditation program eases the qualification process by establishing a common standard recognized by both the operators and vendors. Taiwan Mobile has been working closely with ITRI to pre-test OpenRAN solutions at the TIP Community Lab before bringing them in our own lab and network for consideration.  It is a win-win for both sides. We already see the first batch of TIP-accredited products on their way to commercialization. We are certain there will be many more to come.”

 

 “Thanks to the partnership with TIP and IDB’s sponsorship, we’ve been able to provide local companies with access to a broad range of partners in the telecom industry. This helps diversify our approaches and improve the ecosystem that rolls out new network solutions across the globe,” said Fanghei Tsau, General Director of ITRI Southern Region Campus.

 

 “Taiwan has a strong background in designing and manufacturing a myriad of innovative products with agile and robust companies like Quanta and QCT,” said Mike Yang, President of QCT. “However, there is a lack of an accessible platform for vendors like QCT to pre-test and showcase its 5G infrastructure solutions to potential customers like TWM, and the TIP Community Lab is able to fulfill this need with their testing and validation services.

 

The "Telecom Infra Project" has urged the world's first-tier telecommunication companies, system integration and equipment companies to build an infrastructure of an open internet framework in the hope of eradicating monopolization, creating diversity to purchase equipment, lowering the cost of building an infrastructure and accelerating the spread of 5G across the globe.

 

Vodafone, Telefonica, BT and T-Mobile are among the major European telecommunication service providers that have participated in the TIP.

 

In a bid to grasp this opportunity for the transformation of Taiwanese industries, the Industrial Development Bureau has set up a "5G open network testing platform" in 2020, which in 2021 became the first TIP Community Lab in the Asia-Pacific region capable of conducting tests of  badge validations.

 

As long as Taiwanese equipment manufacturers pass a series of tests at the TIP Community Lab in Hsinchu's Industrial Technology Research Institute and acquire a TIP badge, they can be recommended to other TIP global telecommunication or system integration members as potential suppliers.