Bipartisan Senators Seek $3B for ORAN Programs in FY 2022

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and 13 other senators urged President Joe Biden Tuesday to seek at least $3 billion in his FY 2022 budget proposal for the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund and the Multilateral Telecommunications Security Fund. Each program would get $1.5 billion, the senators said. Congress enacted the two programs, which aim to encourage adoption of open radio access network technology, in the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (see 2101030002). "As wireless networks adapt to the growing demands for 5G connectivity," ORAN "architecture will allow telecommunications providers to migrate from the current hardware-centric approach into a software-centric model that relies heavily on cloud-based services," the senators wrote Biden. "This architecture will break down the current end-to-end proprietary stack of hardware; lower barriers to entry and prompt innovation; diversify the supply chain and decrease dependence on foreign suppliers; and spur" ORAN "deployments throughout the United States, particularly in rural America."