The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced up to $420 million in funding to build the radio equipment needed to advance open network adoption in the U.S. and abroad.
“This $420 million investment will help shore up our supply chain and create opportunities for companies from the U.S. and our allies,” said Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson. “Open, interoperable networks will facilitate competition, make our supply chains more secure, and lead to lower costs.”
This second round of funding targets two critical areas:
- Open radio unit commercialization: Accelerating the development of open radio units to the point where they meet the needs of wireless carriers and are ready for commercial trials; and
- Open radio unit innovation: Improving the overall performance and capabilities of open radio units through targeted research and development.
NTIA expects to grant between $25 million and $45 million per commercialization award, and $5 million to $10 million per innovation award. Applications are due July 10.
NTIA has already awarded more than $140 million to 17 grantees through the first Notice of Funding Opportunity. That initial round of investments is supporting testing research and development, and the establishment of testing and evaluation facilities.
NTIA expects to start making awards from this second funding opportunity this fall.
