Ericsson highlighted its track record after companies including Dell Technologies and Mavenir pressed the US government to prioritise home-grown suppliers of open RAN equipment.

In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Dell Technologies argued network operators are best-served by a predominantly US vendor market, noting domestic technology would enable home-grown open RAN deployments and calling for the government to provide financial incentives to promote this.

The company stated relying on non-domestic equipment “poses great risk, in part because providers have little visibility into the viability of their manufacturers and whether they would still be available to service the networks and replace key components” in future years. It called for the FCC and other US government agencies to mandate open RAN systems should use domestic “managed subsystems and content” spanning computer platforms; virtualisation, network and optical technologies; cloud software; and antennas.

In response, Ericsson highlighted it had been in business for 145 years, employs around 100,000 people and operates in the majority of countries in the world: “There can be little doubt about Ericsson’s viability”.

The vendor also noted the Open RAN Policy Coalition does not back government mandates after Mavenir, one of the group’s founding members, also called for the FCC to promote home-grown suppliers.

Mavenir highlighted nations including the UK, Germany, France, India and Japan are “significantly investing in open RAN” and, in some cases giving preference to local vendors.

Among those calling for US companies to be prioritised, some focus on benefits around the nation’s competitiveness and job creation, while others cite national security. Arguments against the move typically cite the benefits of an open market on innovation and pricing.