The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has awarded $80 million in funding under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund to support the development of new wireless technology testing and evaluation facilities.
NTIA said Wednesday the third round of funding was awarded to DISH Wireless, VIAVI Solutions, Virginia Tech, Cirrus360, Northeastern University and Rice University to help advance the deployment of open and interoperable radio access networks, or RAN.
DISH Wireless secured $50 million in funding to establish the Open RAN Center for Integration and Deployment in collaboration with Fujitsu Network Communications, Mavenir Systems and VMWare.
Meanwhile, VIAVI Solutions received a $22 million grant to create a hybrid physical lab infrastructure and cloud-based testing lab-as-a-service.
“The awards today will help stand up new facilities to usher in new wireless networks, ultimately leading to more jobs and lower costs for Americans,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
