According to the foreign media Light Reading, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this week that they “share a common vision in creating secure and reliable telecommunications, flexible supply chains and achieving global digital inclusion”.
Specifically, they agreed to jointly develop new 5G and 6G networks as well as Open RAN technology.

A lengthy press release by the Biden administration on this work stated: “President Biden and Prime Minister Modi also emphasized the necessity of establishing a bilateral framework for ‘trusted networks/sources’.”
This statement is part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to bring Modi and India closer together into a Western alliance composed of global geopolitical powers. But in the telecommunications industry, this is also worth noting, as companies around the world are striving to seize the opportunity of Open RAN and ultimately usher in 6G network upgrades.
As pointed out by the New York Times, India is important because it is a major global superpower and has not yet fully chosen which side to take in the struggle between “democracy and dictatorship” as Biden calls it. This struggle is increasingly putting the United States and its allies in opposition to China and its allies. India – a country with a population of 1.4 billion – is clearly one of the biggest swing factors.
In the telecommunications sector, the Biden administration continues to push forward the original agenda proposed by the Trump administration, calling for Open RAN technology as a bulwark against the rapid rise of Chinese equipment suppliers such as ZTE and Huawei. However, Open RAN remains a relatively small part of the global 5G industry, as operators in the United States, India, and elsewhere continue to use traditional RAN devices for significant network upgrades.
It remains to be seen whether Biden and Modi’s statements will help change this situation. However, the cooperation between the two countries has made some progress: for example, Micron Technology of the United States plans to invest 2.7 billion dollars to establish a chip assembly, testing and packaging department in Sanand, Gujarat, western Western India.
However, so far, no major operators in the United States or India have directly made significant investments in Open RAN. As the global 5G industry matures and 6G upgrades begin to be on the agenda, this situation may change. According to Biden and Modi’s new statement, India’s Bharat 6G alliance and the United States’ Next G alliance will collaborate to develop the next generation of standards.