NTIA Announces New $450 Million Innovation Fund Round

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2024 – The Commerce Department announced Tuesday $450 million in new funding for open radio access networks, this time targeting software that will run on those networks.

It’s the third round of funding aimed at boosting the technology from Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The NTIA’s $1.5 billion Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund is an effort to stand up a more diversified market of vendors for network equipment, offering an alternative both domestically and abroad to Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE, which U.S. lawmakers consider security threats.

“This latest round of funding will capitalize on the strength of U.S. software development by supporting more secure and open wireless networking software solutions, in turn unlocking new revenue streams and reducing integration costs,” NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said in a statement.

Open RAN networks disaggregate hardware and software components, allowing operators to mix and match components from different vendors. The technology is still inching toward more widespread adoption: AT&T this month brought two more radio vendors on board in its effort to transition to open RAN, and Verizon and Dish recently announced successful tests of multi-vendor deployments.

Tuesday’s funding can be put toward two types of projects: leveraging network data that can’t be easily accessed on closed equipment or making it less complicated to actually mix and match components. 

The first category was an effort to boost demand for open RAN among both carriers and companies with private networks, the NTIA said in its notice of funding opportunity. It offered as examples solutions that would allow utilities to “allocate resources to high priority traffic during emergencies,” or a telecom carrier to “optimize network operations, leading to improved performance and lower costs.”

Applicants for those projects will need to partner with at least one outside entity to ensure the effort is commercially useful. The NTIA is looking for projects to be workable in a field environment within 18 to 36 months and is planning to hand out $24 million to $50 million per award.

As for the integration solutions, applicants will have to partner with at least 3 RAN suppliers and produce a tool that automates integration between a radio unit from one supplier and an open network management component from another supplier, though the agency said it encourages projects that work on additional interfaces. Those projects are expected to last 12 to 18 months and receive $9 million to $18 million each, according to NTIA.

The agency is holding an information session on the new funding round Jan. 10, 2025. Applications will be accepted through March 17.

Separately, NTIA announced Friday $273 million in awards from its second round of Innovation Fund funding, which is focused on bringing open RAN radio units to market. The money went to seven projects, including ones from JMA Wireless and Nokia. The agency said it’s expecting to award up to $146 million in remaining cash from that funding round later this winter.

The program’s first round was aimed at research and development efforts. The NTIA has awarded $413 million from its Innovation Fund so far.