Broadband Forum pledges to merge 5G and fixed broadband

According to the group, the goal of the new Broadband Forum project ‘Open Broadband – WWC Reference Implementation for 5G-RG (OB-5WWC) is “to bring the full benefits of 5G ecosystem to fixed-line services and offer a full end-to-end solution to operators”.

The open source ethos behind the OB-5WWC project should create a “production grade 5G solution stack capable of integration with OpenWRT (Open Wireless Router) and RDK-B (Reference Design Kit for Broadband) frameworks,” the Forum said in a statement.

David Woolley, Broadband Forum’s OB-5WWC project leader, said they had already received “strong support from the service provider community” and called for all interested parties across the industry, including customer premises equipment manufacturers, end-to-end integrators and hardware and software vendors, to join the project.

The OB-5WWC project aims to create a reference implementation of the Broadband Forum’s own previously specified Wireless Wireline Convergence solution for 5G capable Residential Gateways (5G-RGs).

Broadband Forum vice president and Deutsche Telekom senior technology expert Manuel Paul said: “With key 5G specifications already available, the project is an opportunity for industry players to work together and collaborate on implementations that create the best reference implementation for 5G-RG.