Authorities in Japan reportedly hatched a plan to work with local open RAN advocates to deploy a sizeable trial network using the architecture in 2022, in an attempt to drive use of suppliers based in the country.

Nikkei Asia reported the so-called experimental wide-reaching network would be be based in a central campus close to Toyko and connected to other sites within a 30km radius.

Companies rumoured to be involved include open RAN champions Rakuten Mobile, NTT Docomo and vendor NEC. The project is set to be led by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Japanese operators NTT Docomo and Rakuten Mobile have been extremely vocal in their support for open RAN, having made moves to use and develop the technology within their own networks, and promote it outside of their home market.

The state-led project would be the country’s latest commitment to help drive open RAN and follows an agreement with the US signed in April to jointly aid development of the architecture. This was part of a drive to widen operator supply chain options in the wake of a US battle to limit the influence of Chinese vendors.

News of the latest move comes a day after NTT Docomo and NEC announced a successful interoperability test for standalone 5G using a baseband unit conforming to open RAN specifications and radio units from different vendors.