Airspan coverage initiation: The Open RAN and Alternative RAN opportunities. Buy Rating (SPAC Ticker NBA), $18 target price.

Today we publish a deep dive on the Open RAN ecosystem and the future of the telecom industry. We have left no stone unturned, preparing for this 75-page report. We have talked to all players in the ecosystem, leading adopters, and we have broadened the scope of our work to the changing competitive landscape, driven by geopolitical tensions and a broader trend that we named “Alternative RAN”, in which we see operators diversifying the way they buy technology for their networks, within the scope of Open RAN or not.

As a part of this work, we initiate coverage on an alternative vendor benefiting from these industry shifts: Airspan combines an air-interface and a radio system expertise with strong software capabilities and a small, agile organization. The company is gaining traction in landmark roll-outs across the world and we see them successfully expanding in the $40bn RAN market they address. Airspan’s positioning, with an open end-to-end radio and transport portfolio, based on merchant silicon, reminds us of past success stories in this industry, like Ubiquiti and Arista.