Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C
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Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Promoting the Deployment of 5G Open Radio ) GN Docket No. 21-63 Access Networks ) COMMENTS OF MAVENIR SYSTEMS, INC. Mavenir Systems, Inc. Caressa D. Bennet E. Alex Espinoza Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP 1200 19th Street, N.W. Suite 500 Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 467-6900 Counsel for Mavenir Systems, Inc. Table of Contents I. THE PRESENT STATE OF OPEN RAN AND ITS STANDARDS ................................ 7 A. Current Ecosystem ........................................................................................................... 7 B. Current State of Standards and Foreign-Owned Incumbent Control Over Standards- Setting Bodies ............................................................................................................................. 9 C. eCPRI is Not an Alternative to Open RAN.................................................................... 12 II. OPEN RAN IS DEPLOYMENT-READY AND IN USE NOW ..................................... 14 A. Open RAN Domestic Deployments ............................................................................... 15 B. Open RAN International Deployments .......................................................................... 17 C. Open RAN Benefits ....................................................................................................... 19 D. Costs and Deployability ................................................................................................. 20 E. Disaggregation and Integration ...................................................................................... 22 F. Testbeds ............................................................................................................................. 23 G. National Security and Supply Chain .............................................................................. 24 H. Multiple Vendors’ Effect on Supply Chain Security and Network Security ................. 24 I. USF and the Secure Networks Reimbursement Program .................................................. 27 III. MARKET ISSUES AND COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS ................................................ 32 A. Market Issues.................................................................................................................. 32 B. Cost Benefit Analysis ..................................................................................................... 34 IV. LEGAL ISSUES .................................................................................................................. 36 A. Title III and CALEA ...................................................................................................... 36 B. Sections 201(b) and 254 ................................................................................................. 38 C. Section 706 ..................................................................................................................... 39 V. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 40 2 SUMMARY Mavenir fully supports the Commission in its efforts to aid U.S. wireless operators and ecosystem suppliers to develop, deploy, and employ Open RAN architecture in U.S. wireless networks. Networks built with open and interoperable interfaces are no different from networks with proprietary interfaces, with the main exception that the interfaces are published, open and interoperable. Open RAN is not a technology; it refers to open and interoperable interfaces used within existing technology. The current state of U.S. RAN is one of perpetuating proprietary networks that continues to lock out U.S. suppliers. To truly open the RAN to all vendors and new innovative solutions, and truly level the playing field, the Commission must take quick and decisive action, including: explicitly prioritizing Open RAN architecture; adopting preferences for U.S. vendors; and incentivizing U.S. wireless operators to prefer U.S. suppliers. As it weighs the record being gathered through this NOI, the Commission should take into consideration the following: • Open RAN is not a technology—it is open and interoperable interfaces. • U.S. suppliers face the real risk of being locked out of both the global and U.S. RAN markets. • The U.S. RAN market is effectively a duopoly, and current policies perpetuate foreign- owned incumbents’ proprietary systems. • Allied nations are making significant investments in Open RAN, and some are preferencing local suppliers. • Encouraging Open RAN deployment in the FCC’s Supply Chain Reimbursement Program. • Supporting increased U.S. participation in 3GPP to promote the advancement of open and interoperable interfaces. • Open RAN is ready today, and is being deployed around the world. 3 Open RAN is currently being planned to be used at scale internationally with our allied nations, e.g., the United Kingdom, Germany, India, France, and Japan, among others, who are significantly investing in OpenRAN, and in some cases preferencing local vendors to build secure, cost effective next generation networks. Those investments and preferences shift the ultimate risks onto U.S. suppliers, who could consequently be locked out of those international markets, in addition to being currently locked out of the U.S. RAN market. The Commission must encourage U.S. operators and their foreign incumbent suppliers to support the deployment of Open RAN domestically. The Commission should also actively promote domestic participants in 3GPP, both financially, and via the Commission’s statutory authority because today foreign-owned incumbents control the primary international standard setting body, 3GPP. Furthermore, unless the Commission takes action now, U.S. vendors will be locked out of the RAN market for approximately ten years until the arrival of 6G, and will lose the opportunity that the FCC’s Reimbursement Program presents. Open RAN is the cost effective and secure solution to diversify the U.S. communications supply chain. Open RAN allows multiple vendors to provide equipment or services; enabling vendors to compete to provide those services and equipment in the process. Open RAN’s zero trust philosophy—never trust, always verify— makes it inherently more secure than proprietary RAN solutions. Open RAN’s specifications provide wireless operators transparency; allowing the visibility to target equipment to upgrade, repair, and/or provide an overarching security assessment. Moreover, not only does the Commission have the policy imperative to uphold its competitive market principles, and thereby open interfaces and require interoperability, it has the 4 legal authority to do so under Title III, CALEA; sections 201(b) and 254 of the Communications Act; and section 706 of the 1996 Act. Accordingly, to secure our networks, and ensure American leadership in 5G, the Commission should immediately proceed to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to open the RAN to Open RAN. 5 Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of ) ) Promoting the Deployment of 5G Open Radio ) GN Docket No. 21-63 Access Networks ) COMMENTS OF MAVENIR SYSTEMS, INC. Mavenir Systems, Inc. (“Mavenir”), through its undersigned counsel, respectively submits its comments in response to the Notice of Inquiry in the above-captioned proceeding.1 Mavenir commends the Federal Communications Commission (“Commission”) for undertaking this long overdue inquiry into the state of the Radio Access Network (“RAN”) by recognizing the need to break the stranglehold that two foreign-owned incumbents now have on the U.S. RAN market simply by fostering the adoption of open and interoperable interfaces (“Open RAN”) to allow the provision of RAN equipment and services by multiple competing vendors. As discussed below, prompt action by the Commission to remove barriers to the implementation of Open RAN and facilitate its deployment, will have overwhelming benefits for the wireless ecosystem through the introduction of competition in the current duopoly market, reductions in cost, increases in efficiency, and significant enhancements to the security of U.S. wireless networks against malicious foreign and domestic actors. Following the NOI, Mavenir urges the Commission to initiate a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to consider adoption of specific proposals to further the implementation of Open RAN. 1Promoting the Development of 5G Open Radio Access Networks, GN Docket No. 21-63, Notice of Inquiry, FCC 21-31 (Mar. 18, 2021) (Open RAN NOI). 6 I. The Present State of Open RAN and its Standards The U.S. RAN market is now dominated by two foreign-owned incumbents – Ericsson and Nokia. These two companies, along with Huawei and ZTE, took control over RAN standards-setting bodies such as 3GPP. Fortunately, other standards organizations were formed to counter this domination. To date, the best alternatives to proprietary 3GPP-defined RAN interfaces and protocols is Open RAN, which is based on 3GPP and O-RAN Alliance specifications that use open interfaces and allow for interoperability. A. Current Ecosystem With respect to the current state of the Open RAN ecosystem,2 before the U.S. government’s efforts to eliminate, what the U.S. determined to be, untrusted vendors from U.S. telecommunications networks, the U.S. mobile network supply chain was dominated by four foreign headquartered companies: Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson, and Nokia. In a memorandum preceding an April