Rep. Richard Hudson Celebrates a step towards a stronger and more competitive United States Wireless Network
WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC), who serves as the Chairman of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, celebrated the passing of the bipartisan Open RAN Outreach Act in the House of Representatives. This bill will strengthen U.S. wireless networks and protect our small and rural communications network providers from being reliant on Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-backed technology companies, such as Huawei.
"By ensuring our small and rural telecom providers have the support needed to deploy technologies, like Open RAN, we can promote innovation and create jobs," said Chairman Hudson. "My bill paves the way for greater U.S. competition with China and a more secure, resilient wireless network landscape."
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic and recent natural disasters underscored the importance of securing domestic supply chains and telecommunications networks. Huawei and other untrusted companies with the support of government money from China have been able to offer lower costs to entice small and rural providers to use their technology. Promoting a more competitive market of trusted alternative vendors to provide 5G equipment remains an important strategic component to protect U.S. networks.
A closed or proprietary network has one vendor or manufacturer for end-to-end network equipment. Open RAN technology can help diversify communications technology by being an open network infrastructure that can have multiple components from multiple manufacturers. The Open RAN Outreach Act requires technical assistance and outreach to be made available on Open RAN technologies by the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). This will give small and rural providers information and support to deploy Open RAN technologies if providers would like to implement this technology.
Read the Open RAN Outreach Act here.