July 15, 2025
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
To provide outreach and technical assistance to small providers regarding 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—
(1)
to raise awareness regarding the uses, benefits, and challenges of Open RAN networks and other open network architectures; and
(2)
regarding participation in the Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Grant Program established under section 9202(a)(1) of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116–283).
(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 published 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 architecture and published open standards for multi-vendor network equipment interoperability.