Open RAN that collection of obscure wireless networking specifications on Wednesday was the topic of another Congressional hearing. US lawmakers and executives from all over the world debated during a virtual event whether the technology could impact issues ranging from national cybersecurity to the digital divide.
It s no surprise though that open RAN continues to generate so much interest across so many areas of the telecom industry. After all, President Biden has proposed up to $100 billion for broadband across the US. And that s in addition to the billions of dollars already allocated for projects focused on helping poor Americans pay for Internet connections and funding the replacement of Huawei equipment in US networks.
There s plenty of talk about how edge computing could eventually change the very nature of the Internet s architecture by rerouting data traffic through smaller, local computing facilities instead of massive, far-flung data centers. Doing so, according to proponents, could give Internet services cat-like response times.
Already some massive telecom players have been investing in this opportunity. For example, AT&T and Verizon have begun lighting up public edge computing services with the likes of Microsoft and Amazon. Meantime, tower companies like SBA Communications have been purchasing data centers, while fiber providers like Lumen Technologies have been building out edge computing platforms with various partners such as IBM.
A fast-growing Japanese variant is now spreading nationwide. Cases have been observed in other parts of the world alongside local mutations. In the US, one strain bears similar characteristics to the main Japanese variant. In Europe, there is fear and uncertainty that foreign versions could become dominant.
It sounds like coronavirus with a subtly different backstory, but it sums up today s international market for open RAN. The telco industry is enthralled by the concept. Its complaint is that today s all-powerful suppliers are not compatible, forcing the operator of a mobile site to be faithful to one system and squeezing out the technology specialists. Open RAN interoperability could be a leg-up for smaller firms that diversifies the market. The risk is that it becomes a proliferation of incompatible systems.