RRH (Remote Radio Head)

A Remote Radio Head is the radio equipment installed at a cell site, typically mounted close to the antenna to minimise feeder losses. The RRH is connected to a centralised baseband unit over a fronthaul link (CPRI or eCPRI), forming the basis of Cloud RAN and many vRAN deployments. Fronthaul protection (MACsec or IPsec) is essential because some functional splits expose unciphered traffic.

Categories: Radio Access NetworkSecurity ControlsCloud and Virtualization

RRH in context

The radio access network is the layer where mobile devices attach to the operator's infrastructure. Attacks in this layer include IMSI catching, rogue base stations, downgrade attacks and jamming, and defenses hinge on mutual authentication, integrity-protected signaling and Open RAN supply-chain hygiene.

Security controls in telecom span signaling firewalls (SS7/Diameter/GTP screening at the network edge), transport encryption (IPsec, TLS, PRINS), identity and access on OSS/BSS, and monitoring at both the packet and log level. Controls are audited against GSMA FS.11/FS.19/FS.20/FS.36 and, in Europe, NIS2 sectoral rules.

To place RRH in the wider telecom-security picture, review Fronthaul, Cloud RAN, CU/DU/RU Split, Satellite Backhaul, IGW and RAN.

Related terms

More from the TelcoSec Glossary

Browse the full TelcoSec Glossary, the Ultimate Guide to Mobile Network Security, or the P1 Arsenal of telecom-security tools.