Panch Chandrasekaran, director of segment marketing, Infrastructure Line of Business, Arm, writes:
As 5G matures and deployments accelerate, there is a growing desire for faster innovation and agility in network technology. Virtualization and open and interoperable solutions foster the innovation and community-driven approach to solving some of the biggest challenges in 5G infrastructure, and they are gaining attention from operators deploying networks, as well as government policymakers supporting 5G deployments.
We continue to work with the Arm ecosystem to build on the development of open and interoperable network solutions by contributing to more than 100 open-source initiatives. We have joined forces with the industry in organizations like Telecom Infra Project, O-RAN Alliance, fdi.io, DPDK and Linux Foundation initiatives. To add to this effort, today we are joining nearly 60 global companies as a member of Open Radio Access Network (RAN) Policy Coalition. This organization is a cross-section of leading telecom hardware, software, and mobile network service providers working with governments across the globe to support policies that will accelerate development and deployment of open and interoperable solutions in the RAN.
Some early examples of government action supporting this technology include:
Launched “5G Create” in the UK which includes a component supporting development of innovative virtualized and open RAN architectures.
Enacted legislation in Japan that provides financial incentives for companies that develop, supply or deploy 5G equipment that meet certification criteria in terms of security, safety, and trustworthiness; stability of supply; and openness.
And the US has made open RAN solutions deployed in mobile applications eligible for certain FCC reimbursement programs and enacted into law a program to support open RAN research and development, as well as collaborate with international partners to promote open standards.
And I can confidently say dozens more governments representing nearly every continent are showing interest in supporting open and interoperable network solutions as part of the 5G roadmaps in their respective countries.
For generations, collaboration has been the centre point for why Arm is used by 70% of the world’s population. Joining an organization like the Open RAN Policy Coalition presents another important opportunity for us to further enable telcos and vendors to deploy an infrastructure that can support the promise and potential of a 5G world.