NTIA Promotes 5G Supplier Diversity At Home and Abroad

Right now, the wireless network equipment market is highly consolidated, with just a few companies supplying the equipment necessary to support a network. But Open Radio Access Networks, or Open RAN, would unlock that system to allow different companies to compete to supply equipment for different parts of the network. The US Government believes in the promise of these networks. But the wireless equipment ecosystem is global, and we want our allies and partner countries to benefit from this coming shift. To that end, NTIA participates in a range of international engagements to promote 5G supplier diversity and raise awareness of Open RAN. For example, my colleagues recently traveled to Japan and London, and I headed to Poland and Dubai, to discuss this technology and work toward consensus on common policy approaches to support industry-led adoption of Open RAN. Here is some information about those engagements:

• International Telecoms Conference and Quad Open RAN Forum - London, United Kingdom and Tokyo, Japan: The team presented on our agency’s role, full range of activities, and our perspectives on international collaboration before an audience of policymakers from around the world. My colleagues Jaisha and Brian then joined the Quad Open RAN Forum, which fosters in-depth exchange among industry, civil society, and four of the global governments most strongly engaged on telecommunications supplier diversity.
• Regional Workshop on Secure 5G Deployment and Supplier Diversity - Warsaw, Poland: I joined a two-day workshop, hosted by the Department of State, to discuss secure 5G technologies in Europe. By bringing together government and industry partners, the workshop served as an opportunity to identify and promote opportunities for collaboration among suppliers, providers, network operators, implementers, and governments, as well as outline the benefits of more commercial deployments across eastern Europe.
• Open RAN Seminar - Dubai, UAE: I joined a seminar, hosted by the US Embassy in the UAE and the U.S. Department of Commerce in Dubai, on Open RAN for mobile telecommunications in the Middle East and North Africa. I spoke to the U.S. vision for catalyzing innovation through open and interoperable, standards-based RAN technologies. The event focused on how acceleration of standards-based RAN technologies can lead to innovation among a wider range of equipment developers and suppliers. Presenters shared the latest advances in Open RAN, case studies of successful pilot and commercialization projects, and the policies that create an environment of innovation and value creation.