USA Telecommunications Act

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6624 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 18, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To support supply chain innovation and multilateral security, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 6624 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Utilizing Strategic Al- 2 lied Telecommunications Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘USA Tele- 3 communications Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. WIRELESS SUPPLY CHAIN INNOVATION GRANT PRO- 5 GRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available 7 under subsection (d), the Assistant Secretary shall, begin- 8 ning not later than 18 months after the date of the enact- 9 ment of this Act, make grants on a competitive basis to 10 support the deployment and use of Open RAN 5G Net- 11 works throughout the United States by— 12 (1) promoting the use of technology, including 13 software, hardware, and microprocessing technology, 14 that will enhance competitiveness in the supply 15 chains of Open RAN 5G Networks; 16 (2) accelerating the deployment of Open Net- 17 work Equipment; 18 (3) promoting the use of Open Network Equip- 19 ment; 20 (4) establishing objective criteria that can be 21 used to determine if equipment meets the definition 22 of Open Network Equipment; 23 (5) promoting the inclusion of security features 24 that enhance the integrity and availability of Open 25 Network Equipment; or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 6624 RFS (6) promoting the application of network func- 1 tion virtualization to facilitate the deployment of 2 Open RAN 5G Networks and a more diverse vendor 3 market. 4 (b) GRANT CRITERIA.—The Assistant Secretary, in 5 consultation with the Commission, the Director of the Na- 6 tional Institute of Standards and Technology, the Sec- 7 retary of Homeland Security, the Director of the Defense 8 Advanced Research Projects Agency (commonly known as 9 ‘‘DARPA’’), and the Director of the Intelligence Advanced 10 Research Projects Activity of the Office of the Director 11 of National Intelligence (commonly known as ‘‘IARPA’’), 12 shall establish the criteria under which the Assistant Sec- 13 retary shall award a grant under subsection (a). 14 (c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 15 (1) ANNUAL REPORT ON GRANTS MADE.—For 16 each fiscal year for which amounts are available to 17 make grants under subsection (a), the Assistant Sec- 18 retary shall submit to the relevant committees of 19 Congress a report that includes, with respect to that 20 fiscal year— 21 (A) a description of— 22 (i) to whom grants under subsection 23 (a) were made, the amount thereof, and 24 criteria used to award such grants; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 6624 RFS (ii) the progress the Assistant Sec- 1 retary has made in meeting the objectives 2 described in subsection (a) of the grant 3 program under this section; and 4 (B) any additional information that the 5 Assistant Secretary determines appropriate. 6 (2) REPORT ON 5G NETWORK SUPPLY CHAIN.— 7 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact- 8 ment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary shall sub- 9 mit to the relevant committees of Congress a written 10 report— 11 (A) that includes recommendations on pro- 12 moting the competitiveness and sustainability of 13 trusted Open RAN 5G Networks; and 14 (B) identifying whether any additional au- 15 thorities are needed by the Assistant Secretary 16 to facilitate the timely adoption of Open Net- 17 work Equipment, including the authority to 18 provide loans, loan guarantees, and other forms 19 of credit extension that would maximize the use 20 of grant amounts awarded under this section. 21 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 22 (1) AMOUNT AUTHORIZED.—There is author- 23 ized to be appropriated to make grants under sub- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 6624 RFS section (a) $750,000,000 for fiscal years 2021 1 through 2031. 2 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available 3 under paragraph (1) shall remain available through 4 fiscal year 2031. 5 SEC. 3. ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Assistant Secretary shall 7 establish an Advisory Committee to advise the Assistant 8 Secretary in the manner described in subsection (c). 9 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Advisory Committee estab- 10 lished under subsection (a) shall be composed of— 11 (1) representatives from— 12 (A) the Commission; 13 (B) the Defense Advanced Research 14 Projects Agency (commonly known as 15 ‘‘DARPA’’); 16 (C) the Intelligence Advanced Research 17 Projects Activity of the Office of the Director of 18 National Intelligence (commonly known as 19 ‘‘IARPA’’); 20 (D) the National Institute of Standards 21 and Technology; 22 (E) the Department of State; 23 (F) the National Science Foundation; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 6624 RFS (G) the Department of Homeland Security; 1 and 2 (2) other representatives from the private and 3 public sectors, at the discretion of the Assistant Sec- 4 retary. 5 (c) DUTIES.—The Advisory Committee established 6 under subsection (a) shall be used to advise the Assistant 7 Secretary on technology developments to help inform— 8 (1) the strategic direction of the grant program 9 established under section 2; and 10 (2) efforts of the Federal Government to pro- 11 mote a more secure, diverse, sustainable, and com- 12 petitive supply chain for Open RAN 5G Networks. 13 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act: 15 (1) 3GPP.—The term ‘‘3GPP’’ means the Third 16 Generation Partnership Project. 17 (2) 5G NETWORK.—The term ‘‘5G network’’ 18 means a radio network as described by 3GPP Re- 19 lease 15 or higher, or any successor network. 20 (3) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist- 21 ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of 22 Commerce for Communications and Information. 23 (4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 24 means the Federal Communications Commission. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 6624 RFS (5) OPEN NETWORK EQUIPMENT.—The term 1 ‘‘Open Network Equipment’’ means equipment that 2 follows a set of open standards (such as O–RAN 3 standards or the Open Radio Access Network ap- 4 proach to standardization, adopted by the O–RAN 5 Alliance, 3GPP, or other organization) and open 6 interfaces for multi-vendor network equipment inter- 7 operability, such that the equipment may be inte- 8 grated into the Radio Access Networks of an Open 9 RAN 5G Network. 10 (6) OPEN RAN 5G NETWORK.—The term ‘‘Open 11 RAN 5G Network’’ means a 5G network that follows 12 a set of open standards (such as O–RAN standards 13 or the Open Radio Access Network approach to 14 standardization, adopted by the O–RAN Alliance, 15 3GPP, or other organizations) and open interfaces 16 for multi-vendor network equipment interoperability. 17 (7) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.— 18 The term ‘‘relevant committees of Congress’’ 19 means— 20 (A) the Committee on Energy and Com- 21 merce of the House of Representatives; 22 (B) the Permanent Select Committee on 23 Intelligence of the House of Representatives; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 6624 RFS (C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 1 the House of Representatives; 2 (D) the Committee on Homeland Security 3 of the House of Representatives; 4 (E) the Committee on Armed Services of 5 the House of Representatives; 6 (F) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 7 and Transportation of the Senate; 8 (G) the Select Committee on Intelligence of 9 the Senate; 10 (H) the Committee on Foreign Relations 11 of the Senate; 12 (I) the Committee on Homeland Security 13 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; and 14 (J) the Committee on Armed Services of 15 the Senate. 16 Passed the House of Representatives November 17, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:21 Nov 19, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6624.RFS H6624 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS