Standards group the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) signed an MoU with the O-RAN Alliance to advance open RAN initiatives including security and stakeholder requirements.

Their agreement paves the way for ATIS to combine the O-RAN Alliance’s specifications with its own open RAN standards.

The MoU covers joint participation in relevant working groups, promoting and endorsing events, and other areas of mutual interest.

ATIS is a standards association with several ties to the O-RAN Alliance, including AT&T executive Igal Elbaz’s presence on both boards.

Elbaz stated combining the expertise of ATIS and the O-RAN Alliance “will help accelerate the industry’s implementation of open RAN”.

The standards body’s board also includes executives from Comcast, T-Mobile US and Verizon.