Rodgers Whacks NTIA on Late ORAN Money Via Wireless Innovation Fund

NTIA’s administration of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund) drew criticism from some House Communications Subcommittee Republicans during a Thursday hearing over concerns the agency was slow to use it to aid development of U.S. open radio access networks (see 2401160068). Subpanel Democrats conversely eyed whether Congress should allocate additional funding to the NTIA initiative for ORAN use. Members of both parties sought to tie future ORAN development to the push to give the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall that could hurt the goal of removing suspect gear from U.S. networks (see 2311070050).

NTIA has thus far distributed less than $100 million of the $1.5 billion in the Wireless Innovation Fund allocated in the 2022 Chips and Science Act and “only in the last round of awards did NTIA finally provide grants to help with the deployment of” ORAN, said House Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. Jeff Blum, EchoStar executive vice president-external and government affairs, repeatedly highlighted that NTIA awarded subsidiary Dish Network a $50 million grant as part of that latest funding round to establish its Open RAN Center for Integration and Deployment in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

“Given how long NTIA is taking to make these awards, and the types of projects NTIA is choosing to fund, I am concerned we could miss the window to make the meaningful investments necessary to support widespread” deployment of ORAN “and secure our networks,” Rodgers said. She hopes NTIA prioritizes ORAN “deployment projects as it continues awarding these grants.” House Communications needs to “continue our oversight of” NTIA’s administration of the Wireless Innovation Fund “to ensure that awards are used to facilitate the development and deployment of” ORAN to ensure U.S. leadership in developing the technology, said Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio.

“American leadership in wireless technology is critical for both economic and national security” and ORAN will “diversify our 5G supply chain, lower equipment costs, strengthen the number of trusted vendors and help prevent our adversaries from disrupting our networks,” Latta said. Other Republican subpanel members also probed NTIA’s handling of ORAN funding, including Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia.

House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., defended NTIA against critics who say the agency should award Wireless Innovation Fund money more quickly. “I’ll just remind everyone that the agency is limited by the statute in how much it can award the first year,” Pallone said. NTIA is “working to get this money out the door and into the ecosystem with maximum impact,” said House Communications ranking member Doris Matsui, D-Calif. “By focusing on development, testing and evaluation” in its initial notice of funding opportunity, the agency “appropriately directed resources to the areas that will have the biggest catalyzing impact on the market.”

“I have confidence it is administering this fund appropriately and in a way that will produce the best results, including carefully examining the applications and making the awards to the projects that will do the most to help get [ORAN] off the ground,” Pallone said. “I think we can all agree that is the best way to make sure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently.” He later suggested Congress “consider appropriating additional” money for the Wireless Innovation Fund and drew affirmative responses from Blum, ORAN Policy Coalition Executive Director Diane Rinaldo and other witnesses.

Rinaldo suggested NTIA needs to “cast a wide net” as it decides how to parcel out the rest of the Wireless Innovation Fund money, focusing on “what we can fund now.” The U.S. “and our allies want to be the ones creating” the undergirding of the “app ecosystem,” she said: “We don’t want to see what happens if a foreign actor that we’re not aligned with creates that.”

Rodgers, Pallone and other House Communications members cited the thus far unsuccessful bid to appropriate more rip-and-replace funding as related to bolstering ORAN. “We must safeguard our networks from” bad actors like China, and that “requires making sure providers have the resources they need to remove technology sourced from” companies like Huawei and ZTE, Rodgers said. Added Latta, “We must now ensure that” rip and replace “is fully funded” to deter global threats to the U.S. The issue arose during a House Communications’ hearing last week on telecom network cybersecurity issues (see 2401110075).

The additional rip-and-replace money is “critical” to ensuring the U.S. “can ensure our networks are secure from malicious interference,” Pallone said. “I also hope smaller carriers explore whether Open RAN technology is suitable for their networks so that any network equipment deemed a security threat in the future can be removed more easily. Congress should also make sure these carriers have the resources and technical assistance to leverage this technology.” Matsui suggested “we should be minimizing the reach” that companies whose gear is targeted in rip and replace have “in the burgeoning [ORAN] ecosystem.”

“We can’t be self-congratulatory” about securing U.S. networks without more government action, said Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. She emphasized the importance of fully funding rip and replace but noted the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act requires participants only to remove suspect equipment but doesn’t mandate replacement. “I don’t know if every member realizes that,” she said: “There will be different ideas about requirement on” replacement “and if you think that’s appropriate, someone should tell us.” Rinaldo told Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and August Pfluger, R-Texas, that the federal government should be looking at a “Plan B” if Congress doesn’t allocate the additional rip-and-replace money.