Open radio access networks are gaining steam, as evidenced by a recent meeting of representatives from the U.S., Australia, India and Japan at the Quad Open RAN Forum, the Open RAN Policy Coalition said in a Tuesday newsletter to members. “Recent trends in the global adoption of Open RAN have been very encouraging,” said Diane Rinaldo, coalition executive director. “As the Open RAN revolution gains momentum, governments worldwide are recognizing the immense potential of Open RAN and are taking proactive steps to support its development and adoption,” she said. The coalition anticipates additional funding released soon in the U.S. by the NTIA under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (see 2308080047), she said: “These funds will undoubtedly continue to accelerate the development of open and interoperable networks, setting the stage for a brighter, more connected future.”

Despite a slow start, open radio access networks are starting to build momentum, including in the U.S., speakers said Tuesday during an Informa Tech webinar. Getting the timing right will be difficult but “the commitment is there from large operators” to move to open networks, said Gabriel Brown, senior principal analyst-mobile networks & 5G at Heavy Reading. Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and other big European operators are committed to ORAN, he said. In the U.S., ORAN has gone “a little slower than some anticipated” but U.S. carriers are “pioneering” virtual RAN and cloud RAN, he said. Brown also noted Dish Network’s deployment of ORAN technology in its network build. “We’re starting to see it pick up in other regions,” he said. Japan’s Docomo is probably the biggest incumbent so far, he said. Vodafone had its first ORAN deployment in 2019 in the U.K., said Lucia De Miguel Albertos, senior ORAN manager. ORAN requires “continuous work,” she said. “It takes months of efforts, even years … to have a good performance,” she said. Vodafone decided as part of its ORAN program that it had to serve as its own system integrator, Albertos said. In the U.K., Vodafone started its deployment using Samsung as system integrator but plans to take on those responsibilities if all goes as planned, she said. ORAN “is no longer a concept. We have seen it being deployed commercially by many” major carriers “across the globe,” said Prakash Desai, senior director-product management at ORAN company Wind River. The network performance metrics operators are seeing are “at par or better, in some cases, than traditional networks,” he said. Work remains on ORAN standardization, including on the RAN intelligent controller, data operation, automation and accelerating apps, he said. “Interoperability is always complex,” he said. “What is needed now is scale -- more and more tier-one [operators] to jump on the bandwagon and say, ‘Yes, we can do it,’” Desai said. Wind River has worked with Verizon to deploy more than 30,000 virtual nodes carrying network traffic, he said. Verizon’s 5G network covers the New York metro area “and there cannot be a more dense urban network than New York City,” he said: Virtualized nodes have been deployed there and working for more than two years.

The Rural Wireless Association (RWA) members face long delays in receiving reimbursement through the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, according to a filing posted Monday in docket 18-89. RWA asked the FCC to look for ways to expedite the program. “When a modification request is submitted the entire application is locked, which halts the processing of other submitted invoices that may be unrelated to the modification request,” RWA said. Some members have been forced to take out loans and interest payments are “presumed to not be eligible for reimbursement,” the group said: “Requests for Information have been issued when there are discrepancies of less than $1.00. Some participants have expressed that rounding errors should simply be adjusted in favor of the FCC/Fund Administrator, so that they are not required to spend time and resources fixing an insignificant rounding error on invoices totaling millions of dollars.”

Commissioners Monday approved an order and Further NPRM addressing amateur radio operators’ long-standing request that the agency address limits on the baud rate for amateur communications (see 2310250070). Commissioners meet Wednesday. None of them released statements on the item, which was approved 5-0. “The amateur radio community can play a vital role in emergency response communications, but is often unnecessarily hindered by the baud rate limitations in the rules,” the order says: “Today, we remove this outdated restriction to allow the amateur radio community to operate more efficiently, including in support of emergency situations when appropriate.”

The Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) raised concerns about implementation deadlines in a draft SIM swap order set for a commission vote Wednesday (see 2310250070). CTIA has raised similar concerns (see 2311090063). “CCA expressed the substantial challenge carriers of any size would have in implementing the proposed rules in that timeframe,” the group said in a filing posted Monday in docket 21-341: “Compliance will require significant systematic and information technology changes and updates, along with significant updates to carrier customer service processes and employee training. Many of CCA’s members are small providers with limited staff and resources, making a six-month implementation timeframe excessively difficult.” CCA officials met with the staffs of FCC Chairperson Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Brendan Carr.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly for the District of Columbia Thursday denied a motion by Dish Network designated entities Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless for judgment based on the pleadings in a case examining Vermont National Telephone and DOJ allegations of fraud in the 2015 AWS-3 auction. “These allegations were exhaustively litigated before the FCC in an antecedent administrative proceeding and in the court of public opinion,” the court said. "As a result, Defendants argue that the Court should dismiss this case pursuant to the False Claim Act’s ‘public-disclosure’ provision, which requires a Court to dismiss a qui tam action where the fraud allegations were known to the federal government in advance of a relator’s commencement of suit in federal court.” But that provision “is subject to a crucial and dispositive exception: where the United States opposes dismissal,” Kollar-Kotelly said. In this the government “opposes dismissal of all claims, vitiating Defendants’ reliance on the FCA’s ‘public-disclosure’ provision,” she said. Qui tam actions allow private individuals to sue on behalf of the government to recover money that was fraudulently obtained by a person or corporation.

Trade associations led by CTA offered a set of principles on a cybersecurity labeling program for smart devices, saying it should be voluntary and based on existing National Institute of Standards and Technology guidance. That message is consistent with industry responses in initial comments on an August NPRM (see 2310100034). “While significant operational details must still be determined before a program can launch, we are encouraged by the Commission’s intention to work collaboratively with industry in a way that helps consumers make more informed buying choices while encouraging device makers to meet established cybersecurity standards,” the groups said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-239. The groups also said the program “must be distinct from equipment authorization processes, including no requirement to complete the certification or authorization process before qualifying for the Mark.” Achieving certification “should indicate that a product is equipped with ‘reasonable security’ for purposes of liability protection,” the filing said. Manufacturers should be allowed to “self-attest with appropriate trust mechanisms that are based on meeting” NIST’s core baseline for consumer IoT products. The FCC should also “encourage international alignment of cybersecurity labeling practices and mutual recognition agreements” and the U.S. government should launch “a robust consumer education campaign … to drive awareness and understanding of the Mark,” said the filing. It was signed by groups including the Connectivity Standards Alliance, CTIA, the Information Technology Industry Council, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the Security Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and USTelecom.

CTIA urged the FCC to extend the compliance deadlines in a draft SIM swap order set for a commissioner vote Wednesday (see 2310250070). The proposed rules provide a six-month compliance deadline, which CTIA asked be revised to at least 18 months, with 24 months being ideal. CTIA also urged “targeted changes” to other parts of the order and said the FCC should “refrain from using this proceeding as a vehicle to try to establish broader agency authority and new definitions for the [Customer Proprietary Network Information] framework.” CTIA representatives met with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-341.

5G Americas Thursday proposed a new framework for evaluating 5G use cases examining the industry “supply” side and the end user “demand” side. The paper cites fixed wireless access and private networks as two important use cases so far. “We share a common excitement, as we are entering a new era of 5G; one that finally allows us to break free of the previous monolithic ‘4th generation lens’ of simple data speeds (and volumes),” 5G Americas said: “The challenge for any industry is developing a clear understanding of associated use cases and finding a way to express the value creation in a relatable way.” The paper notes that 57% of users' time spent online is on a mobile network. “Mobile connectivity is an increasingly entrenched ‘sticky’ service, and now a well-established cornerstone of modern lifestyle,” the paper said.

The FCC amended its rules to retain radiotelephone requirements for vessels subject to the recently expired Great Lakes Agreement (GLA) with Canada, effective immediately, per a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. The GLA established requirements on the usage and maintenance of VHF communications equipment for safety purposes aboard all vessels 65 feet or over in length, most towing vessels and vessels carrying more than six passengers for hire on the Great Lakes. The FCC incorporated the requirements into its rules. Following consultation with the U.S. Coast Guard, the FCC also modified the rules to require inspections every 48 months, rather than the 13 months previously required. “Ensuring the availability of critical maritime communications has been one of the Commission’s fundamental obligations since the earliest days of the Communications Act,” the notice said: “Similar to the terrestrial emergency 911 system, the maritime services provide for the unique distress, as well as the operational and personal communications, needs of vessels at sea and on inland waterways.”