DISH Wireless Awarded $50 Million NTIA Grant for 5G Open RAN Integration and Deployment Center
Summary
New Department of Commerce Investment will Leverage DISHs Wireless Leadership to Advance Open RAN InnovationLITTLETON, Colo., Jan. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DISH Wireless, a subsidiary of EchoStar, was awarded a historic $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerces National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish the Open RAN Center for Integration & Deployment (ORCID). ORCID will allow participants to test and validate their hardware and software solutions (RU, DU and CU) against a complete commercial-grade Open RAN network deployed by DISH. We appreciate NTIAs recognition of DISH and ORCIDs role in driving Open RAN innovation and the Administrations ongoing commitment to U.S. leadership in wireless connectivity. ORCID will be housed in DISHs secure Cheyenne, Wyoming campus and will be supported by consortium partners Fujitsu, Mavenir and VMware by Broadcom and technology partners Analog Devices, ARM, Cisco, Dell Technologies, Intel, JMA Wireless, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Samsung.NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and Innovation Fund Director Amanda Toman will join EchoStar Co-Founder and Chairman Charlie Ergen, EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan, EVP and Chief Network Officer Marc Rouanne and other stakeholders to announce the grant and tour a DISH 5G Open RAN cell site later today in Las Vegas.During this event, DISH will outline ORCIDs unique advantages, including that it will leverage DISHs experience as the only operator in the United States to commercially deploy a standalone Open RAN 5G network. DISHs experience in a multi-vendor environment will give ORCID unique insights about the integration of Open RAN into brownfield networks.