5/28 FCC Reply Comments Supporting Open RAN Policies

New America's Open Technology Institute filed reply comments with the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) urging adoption of Open RAN ("ORAN") policies to foster a competitive wireless ecosystem and innovation through diverse spectrum frameworks such as the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the 3.5 GHz band. The introduction is available below:

The introduction of Open RAN (or “ORAN”) will mark an important step forward in facilitating competitive access and innovation in the wireless market that will benefit both industry and consumers. ORAN’s modularity and open interfaces create more options for network configurations, more competition among 5G equipment suppliers, and ultimately more opportunities for market entry and a more diverse set of users in the emerging 5G and Wi-Fi 6- powered ecosystem.

The success of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) in the 3.5 GHz band and the many notable innovative solutions to connectivity gaps employed by school districts using CBRS spectrum demonstrate the importance of open-access policies such as Open RAN in diversifying wireless connectivity and democratizing deployment capability. OTI expects that smaller wireless ISPs and third-party integrators will be among those in a good position to take advantage of ORAN modularity. Further, ushering through Open RAN promises to improve vendor diversity, improve competition, drive down costs, and catalyze deployment. Taken together, the record clearly demonstrates the widespread benefits of Open RAN to increase competition and facilitate diverse use cases that promote more affordable broadband services.