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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 58 / Monday, March 29, 2021 / Notices
and safety of individuals, and to mitigate the transmission of COVID19.1
Commercial overnight mail other than U.S. Postal Service Express Mail and Priority Mail must be sent to 9050
Junction Drive, Annapolis Junction, MD
20701.
U.S. Postal Service first-class, Express, and Priority mail must be addressed to 45 L Street NE, Washington, DC 20554.
Ex Parte Rules This proceeding shall be treated as a permit-but-disclose proceeding in accordance with the Commissions ex parte rules.2 Persons making ex parte presentations must file a copy of any written presentation or a memorandum summarizing any oral presentation within two business days after the presentation unless a different deadline applicable to the Sunshine period applies. Persons making oral ex parte presentations are reminded that memoranda summarizing the presentation must 1 list all persons attending or otherwise participating in the meeting at which the ex parte presentation was made, and 2
summarize all data presented and arguments made during the presentation. If the presentation consisted in whole or in part of the presentation of data or arguments already reflected in the presenters written comments, memoranda, or other filings in the proceeding, the presenter may provide citations to such data or arguments in his or her prior comments, memoranda, or other filings specifying the relevant page and/or paragraph numbers where such data or arguments can be found in lieu of summarizing them in the memorandum. Documents shown or given to Commission staff during ex parte meetings are deemed to be written ex parte presentations and must be filed consistent with Rule 1.1206b, 47 CFR 1.1206b.
Participants in this proceeding should familiarize themselves with the Commissions ex parte rules.
Synopsis In creating the Federal Communications Commission FCC or 1 See FCC Announces Closure of FCC
Headquarters Open Window and Change in HandDelivery Policy, Public Notice, 35 FCC Rcd 2788
2020, https www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-closesheadquarters-open-window-and-changes-handdelivery-policy.
2 47 CFR 1.1200a. Although the Rules do not generally require ex parte presentations to be treated as permit but disclose in Notice of Inquiry proceedings, see 47 CFR 1.1204b1, we exercise our discretion in this instance, and find that the public interest is served by making ex parte presentations available to the public, in order to encourage a robust record. See id. 1.1200a.

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Commission, Congress charged the agency with protecting the safety of life and property and promoting the national defense through wire and radio communication. Over the last decade, actions by Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Commission have repeatedly stressed and prioritized supply chain risk management and the deployment of secure and reliable networks in the United States. The Commission has worked closely with its federal partners on this critical issue and has acted decisively to secure our communications networks and the communications supply chain. Congress has also established that it is the policy of the United States to encourage the provision of new technologies and services to the public.
Open and virtualized radio access networks have the potential to address national security and other concerns that the Commission and other federal stakeholders have raised in recent years about network integrity and supply chain reliability. New startups are entering the original equipment manufacturer marketplace, and many of these companies are located in trustedpartner countries that do not pose national security risks. Network function virtualization and tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning AI/ML have the potential to allow for smarter, more efficient network security monitoring. Below, we summarize recent federal actions taken to help secure the communications supply chain and communications networks, either before the emergence of Open RAN or in parallel with these efforts.
A. State of Development and Deployment of Open RAN Solutions Current Standards and Specifications.
We seek comment on the current state of standards and specifications development for 5G and Open RAN.
During the last few years, there has been a concerted effort among some organizations to advance the Open RAN
model. For example, in 2016 and 2018, respectively, several companies launched the Telecom Infra Project TIP
and global carriers established the O
RAN Alliance to develop and promote Open RAN reference architectures and protocols that foster vendor interoperability. In May 2020, several major global companies formed the Open RAN Policy Coalition to promote government policies that advance the adoption of open and interoperable RAN technologies. In August 2020, the Open Networking Foundation ONF, an operator-led consortium advancing innovation in network infrastructure
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and carrier business models, announced several new initiatives in the Open RAN
domain. We seek comment on the state of Open RAN standards development generally and, specifically, on the challenges inherent in developing Open RAN standards and specifications. To what extent are these standard-setting efforts being driven by established large manufacturers, and to what extent are these efforts enabling participation by smaller equipment vendors, smaller mobile network operators, and newer entrants to the marketplace? Are specifications such as eCPRI, the Common Public Radio Interface, a sufficient alternative to Open RAN? Are there any known interoperable multivendor implementations of eCPRI?
Are there substantive differences between the eCPRI and Open RAN
approaches for disaggregating the network? What steps, if any, should be taken by the Commission to help resolve standard-setting challenges, bolster these efforts, and accelerate the timeline for Open RAN standards and specifications development?
Open RAN Ecosystem. We seek comment on the current state of the Open RAN ecosystem. For example, which companies are offering baseband hardware, network virtualization, packet core functionality, or other network components? How large are each of these companies, in sales or revenues, in each of these applications?
How scalable is manufacturing of each of these components to allow for ramp up in production? And how many companies are competing to supply each of the components and applications? What role if any will systems integrators play in advancing the deployment of Open RAN systems and what systems integrators are operating in the marketplace today?
Will carriers execute their own integration, as Rakuten has done, or buy hosted solutions from other providers?
Commenters should identify any gaps or potential bottlenecks in the Open RAN
ecosystem. What factors incentivize or disincentivize vendors from developing Open RAN solutions? What are the financial capabilities and funding sources of current or potential vendors to develop such solutions? To what extent does the development of Open RAN solutions by one firm depend on the development of Open RAN by other firms? We seek comment on the current and future opportunities that Open RAN
generates for the U.S. wireless infrastructure industry. While U.S.
companies do not currently offer an integrated end-to-end network at scale, several U.S. companies supply critical
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