What They’re Saying: Biden-Harris Administration Awards $117 Million For Wireless Innovation

Today, the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded more than $117 million in the second batch of grants from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund’s second Notice of Funding Opportunity.

The $1.5 billion Wireless Innovation Fund supports the development of open and interoperable wireless networks. Open and interoperable wireless equipment will help drive competition, strengthen global supply chain resilience and lower costs for consumers and network operators.

This batch of awards will support projects focused on open radio unit commercialization. Applicants were required to partner with a mobile network operator to help produce products that will be commercially viable.

Here’s what they’re saying about today’s grants:

Members of Congress

U.S. Senator John Cornyn, Texas

“Access to robust and efficient telecommunication is critical for the continued economic development in Texas. I applaud this announcement and look forward to seeing the positive impact this investment will have in Houston and beyond.”

U.S. Senator Mark Warner, Va.

“I was proud to write and usher these grant programs into law in 2020 and 2021– which provide this funding for research that will help solve problems related to interoperability, performance, and security, ensuring that United States positions itself as the leader in the next generation of wireless technology. I am thrilled to see this announcement of over $16 million for the Commonwealth to help integrate ORAN into existing networks.”  

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, N.Y.

“Supporting the development of 5G wireless networks is critical to driving American competitiveness and strengthening global supply chain resiliency. This critical funding for New York University will bring necessary improvements to telecommunications infrastructure in New York. I fought hard to pass the CHIPS and Science Act, and I’m proud to see funding made possible through this legislation being used to help consumers and companies in our great state.”

U.S. Representative Lizzie Fletcher, Texas

“High-speed internet is critical, and I am glad to see important innovation to improve this technology in our district, which this NTIA grant demonstrates. I gladly voted for the CHIPS and Science Act to provide this critical funding for entities like Skylark Wireless to provide faster, more secure internet connectivity and to ensure the U.S. remains competitive in developing cutting-edge wireless networks.  It is critical that all Americans have access to this vital technology.”

U.S. Representative Sarah Elfreth, Md.

“I’m incredibly proud that Maryland's Third District's very own Rampart was chosen to receive nearly $10 million in federal funding to continue their technological advancements in wireless innovation. The work of Rampart will enhance our security, improve efficiency and capacity, and ultimately lower costs for consumers. This investment in American innovation is all thanks to the CHIPS and Science Act that Democrats in Congress and the Biden-Harris Administration championed.

Award Recipients

Airspan Networks Inc.

Glenn Laxdal, CEO

“Airspan, a US based leader in wireless innovation and development, is proud to be a recipient of this NTIA grant to support next generation wireless technology. Open RAN is a cutting-edge architecture that enables advanced 5G features and lays the foundation for 6G. This funding enables us to increase our technology investment and accelerate our next-generation Open RAN radios. At Airspan, we are committed to supporting the initiative of 5G technology leadership and innovative development in the United States.”

Analog Devices

Bryan Goldstein, Corporate Vice President of Aerospace, Defense and Communications Group

“As a pillar of the U.S. semiconductor industry, Analog Devices has a long and successful history of enabling global cellular networks with our radio frequency transceiver solutions. With the growing demand for expanded network capacity, future improvements will be significantly dependent on research and development of the semiconductors at the heart of the radios. With this funding, ADI can accelerate its development of advanced 6G capable transceiver technology to meet future network requirements.”

DeepSig

Jim Shea, CEO

“DeepSig is honored to be selected by NTIA's Public Wireless Innovation Fund investments in Open and Interoperable next-generation radio access networks. Spectrum awareness and optimization are critical enablers of U.S. telecommunications competitiveness, performance and security. Through this program, we'll integrate our leading AI-driven spectrum sensing software, OmniSIG, within Open RAN Radio Unit (O-RU) designs and interface standards, enhancing capabilities and performance by enabling enhanced spectrum sharing, interference management, wireless cybersecurity and spectrum activity monitoring. By embedding spectrum sensing at the network edge, we can accelerate OpenRAN competitiveness and fuel innovations in dynamic spectrum sharing and network performance for Open 5G and Next-G. We're excited to get started!"

NYU Wireless

Sundeep Rangan, Associate Director

"The upper mid-band has attracted considerable interest from the wireless industry due to the wide bandwidth and favorable coverage. We are excited by the NTIA support to develop a spectrally agile RFIC (Radio frequency integrated circuit) that can help leverage these bands for next-generation robust and high-performance systems.”

Otava Inc.
Victoria Pereira, CEO

“Otava is excited to announce that it has received a grant from the NTIA Wireless Innovation Fund. This funding will support the development of open and interoperable wireless networks and equipment, which will help promote competition, strengthen the US supply chain resilience, and lower costs for consumers and network operators. We believe that Otava's proposed approach can significantly accelerate the deployment of commercial radios in the important FR3 frequency range, positioning the United States as a leader in mobile broadband services. With the backing of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund grant, Otava, Inc. is well-equipped to deliver state-of-the-art RF components to address the challenges of deploying 5G/6G Open RAN in the FR3 band.”

Rampart Communications

Matt Ball, CEO

"With the NTIA’s Innovation Fund Grant, Rampart will redefine what’s possible in spectral efficiency and link capacity, paving the way for new state-of-the-art performance in open radio units. By advancing the fundamental building blocks of wireless communication with the support of NTIA, we are driving the innovation necessary to shape the future of global connectivity."

SecureG

Todd Warble, CTO

“Funding from NTIA’s Innovation Fund will allow SecureG to develop and commercialize a means for embedding digital identities at the point of creation for Open RAN radio units. As early as the creation of the semiconductors used to build the radio units. This will provide equipment manufacturers and Mobile Network Operators the ability to track and validate supply chain integrity from the point of manufacture, through to the deployment within mobile networks. Digital identities will also enable a common security profile across components from multiple vendors, securely delivering Open RAN services without limiting the vendors used.”