The Na onal Telecommunica ons and Informa on Administra on
said that it has received 127 applica ons asking for $1.39 billion in
funding to support tes ng, research and development of open and
interoperable wireless networks.
Those requests are nearly ten mes as much funding as NTIA will
make available in the first funding round. In fact, it very nearly
comes to the full total that the federal government plans to award
over the 10-year span of the program.
The Public Wireless Supply Chain Innova on Fund is a $1.5 billion,
decade-long program that is part of the CHIPS and Science Act
passed last year and focuses on federal government's efforts to
promote a secure supply chain and open approaches to network
infrastructure. The first round of funding, with ini al awards
expected to be announced in August, comprises only one-tenth of
the total, or about $140.5 million.
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communica ons and
Informa on Alan Davidson said that the fund "will address the
urgent need to increase the resilience, diversity and security of the
wireless equipment market.
"The overwhelming interest in this first round of funding shows
the private sector is stepping up to meet that need," Davidson
con nued. "These are the important first steps in this cri cal
project to help us drive compe on, strengthen our supply chain,
and provide our allies addi onal trusted, innova ve choices."
Based on feedback from industry stakeholders that NTIA gathered
through public comment and a listening session, the first funding
round for the telecom supply chain innova on fund is meant
to focus on expanding and improving tes ng and R&D that will
"demonstrate the viability of new approaches to wireless like
open radio access networks (Open RAN) and remove barriers
to adop on."
Specifically, the funding will go to support expansion of
"industry-accepted tes ng and evalua on" focusing on
"interoperability, performance, and/or security of open and
interoperable, standards-based 5G radio access networks" and
developing or improving the tes ng of those network and/or
their component parts.
NTIA has said that later funding opportuni es in the course of the
program "will build upon the founda onal work" of the first round
and focus on "crea ng an ecosystem for wireless innova on built
by the U.S. and its global allies."
According to preliminary informa on from NTIA, the vast majority
of first-round funding requests focused on tes ng and evalua on
ac vi es, rather than R&D projects. Applicants sought $1.2 billion
for tes ng and evalua on, and only $146 million for ac vi es that
were categorized as R&D.
Ar cle Credit: h ps://www.rcrwireless.com/20230612/test-and-
measurement/telecom-supply-chain-fund-receives-nearly-1-4-
billion-in-requests-for-tes ng-rd-support
Telecom supply
chain fund receives
nearly $1.4 billion in
requests for testing,
R&D support
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