Mavenir has installed its cloud-native converged packet core and open radio access network components into Montana-based Triangle Communications network, replacing previously installed Huawei gear. The move is part of the U.S. government's Secure and Trusted Telecommunications Networks Act of 2019.

The Mavenir installation includes its packet core, open RAN, and open RAN-compliant radio units (O-RUs). Loris Zaia, VP of major U.S. accounts at Mavenir, told SDxCentral that the vendor is handling everything except customer premise equipment installations.

“The services work is quite a large piece of this as well because you're talking to at least two – maybe three – tower clients to go in there and install the equipment and the other one to then go and rip [the old equipment] all out. So there's quite a bit of service work involved as well,” Zaia explained, adding that the work will be finished by the end of the year.

Tim Nixdorf, VP of operations at Triangle, said the equipment provides the regional operator with an “easy pathway to 5G,” though it has not finalized any plans. “We're working on getting the replacement done,” he said.

The move instantiates an ongoing rip-and-replace movement tied to the FCC vote to forbid any company from using the Universal Service Fund (USF) to purchase equipment or services from companies that pose a national security threat – effectively banning Huawei and ZTE from receiving federal subsidies.

“It's using 100% of our CU/DU [distributed/centralized unit] software, 100% of our software in the core, the EPC,” and nearly all the hardware – with a few exceptions for components like “antennas and cables and servers because it's open architecture,” Zaia explained of the Mavenir gear. “We made sure that none of our solution was coming [from] China, at least from any companies that are headquartered in China.”

As part of its installation, Mavenir has begun ripping out and disposing of Triangle’s former Huawei equipment. The rural provider first installed CDMA-based EV-DO Rev A 3G equipment in 2011, later ramping up to LTE equipment in 2013.

According to Zaia, the replacement process started after the act was first passed, where Congress secured $1.9 billion to help fund the updates. But after applications flooded in, overall act costs soared to an estimated $5.6 billion. “It was a major shortfall.”

“The FCC went back and scrubbed the list a little bit and ... eliminated some candidates, but there was still a well-over $3 billion shortfall,” Zaia explained. As it stands, Mavenir and Triangle will receive reimbursement for 39% of the upgrade cost despite the FCC’s call to Congress for more funding.

“We just got the rules a couple of weeks ago from the FCC about the reimbursement process, and we're working through that … they're asking for things that I wasn't expecting,” Nixdorf said. “It's just never as simple as what you think it should be, so we're just going through all of the rules and making sure between the two companies that we can get the billing in the right format and be able to start submitting bills in a reasonable timeline.”