The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, has awarded over $273 million in grants to seven projects aimed at developing open and interoperable wireless networks.
The NTIA said Friday the grants, meant to support projects involving open radio unit hardware commercialization, are from the second Notice of Funding Opportunity of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. NTIA will award another $146 million in grants this winter.
The NTIA required applicants to collaborate with a mobile network operator, or MNO, to help commercialize their products. The chosen projects are:
Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo stated, "To out-compete and out-build the rest of the world, we need to ensure we're tapping into every resource to unleash U.S. innovation, which is precisely what these federal dollars will do by boosting the development of open and interoperable wireless networks."