Photo courtesy of the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines
Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines Endo Kazuya on Wednesday signed and exchanged notes with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo for an Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) System at the University of the Philippines (UP) under the Government of Japan’s Economic and Social Development Programme.
According to the ambassador, the grant of up to JPY 444 million (around P168 million) seeks to strengthen the information and telecommunications infrastructure in the Philippines by providing Open RAN-related equipment to UP.
Open RAN offers a flexible and standardized architecture to enable interoperability between various network components from different vendors. This is said to promote greater market competition, improve network security, and lower costs with great potential in a mobile-first country such as the Philippines.
“This initiative aims to enable an open, interoperable, secure, reliable, and trusted information communications technology ecosystem in the country,” the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines posted.
“The project is expected to establish an environment to deploy Open RAN leading to increased competition in the base station market, which will lead to lower costs in the deployment and operation of 5G networks, as well as stimulate innovation, in the Philippines,” it added.
During the event, Endo said the Open RAN project manifests their commitment to stronger cooperation on information and communications technology.
He likewise emphasized the significance of prosperity founded on strategic collaboration “not only to regional development but also to our vision of a Free and Open-Indo Pacific.”
