Title: Open RAN Outreach Act
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:
Open RAN Outreach Act
This bill requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to conduct outreach and provide technical assistance to small communications network providers to raise awareness of the benefits of Open RAN networks and other open network architectures. Open RAN networks are wireless networks that follow the Open Radio Access Network approach to standardization, promoting the use of open interface standards in the portion of the telecommunications network that connects wireless devices (e.g., mobile phones) to the core of the network.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4032 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4032

    To provide outreach and technical assistance to small providers 
  regarding the benefits of Open RAN networks, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2021

 Mr. Allred (for himself, Mr. O'Halleran, Mr. Hudson, and Mr. Guthrie) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide outreach and technical assistance to small providers 
  regarding the benefits of Open RAN networks, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Open RAN Outreach Act''.

SEC. 2. OUTREACH AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SMALL PROVIDERS REGARDING 
              OPEN RAN NETWORKS.

    (a) In General.--The Assistant Secretary shall conduct outreach and 
provide technical assistance to small communications network providers 
to raise awareness of the benefits of Open RAN networks and other open 
network architectures.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Assistant secretary.--The term ``Assistant Secretary'' 
        means the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications 
        and Information, acting through the head of the Office of 
        Internet Connectivity and Growth.
            (2) Open network architecture.--The term ``open network 
        architecture'' means Open RAN networks and other network 
        elements that follow a set of open standards for multi-vendor 
        network equipment interoperability, including open core and 
        open transport.
            (3) Open ran network.--The term ``Open RAN network'' means 
        a wireless network that follows the Open Radio Access Network 
        approach to standardization adopted by the O-RAN Alliance, 
        Telecom Infra Project, or Third Generation Partnership Project 
        (3GPP), or any similar set of open standards for multi-vendor 
        network equipment interoperability.
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