Picocom sells 5G baseband silicon into Contela ORAN units

Author: EIS Release Date: Aug 15, 2023

Korean 5G ORAN equipment maker Contela has picked Picocom of Bristol UK to supply NR/LTE baseband silicon.

 

Picocom pc802 ORAN baseband IC

PC802 ICs will be used with Picocom’s related PHY software in Contela’s Open RAN ‘distributed units’ (O-DUs) and ‘radio units’ (O-RUs).

 

“Contela is confident in its ability to deliver Open RAN wireless products to its customers and help them maintain a competitive advantage,” said Contela CEO Sun Park. “The immediate availability of PC802 and its accompanying software means we have already kickstarted our programme.”

 

 

Shipping in quantity, PC802 supports 4G LTE and 5G NR “and can run them concurrently on the same device”, according to Picocom.

 

 

“I am honoured that our silicon and software will be the foundation for future Contela Open RAN products,” said Picocom president Peter Claydon. “Korea is a global leader in wireless innovation, and we are very pleased with the traction we have seen in the region.”

 

PC802 is a PHY SoC for 5GNR/LTE small cell disaggregated and integrated RAN architectures. It interfaces with a layer 2/3 stack via the SCF FAPI interface over PCIe. Interfacing is supported to O-RUs via the O-RAN Open Fronthaul eCPRI interface, or directly to RFICs with a JESD204B serial interface.