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- Three of the UK’s top universities have been awarded £28m to develop the next generation of 6G network technology
- Groundbreaking £80m fund to set up state-of-the-art UK Telecom lab in West Midlands to test network equipment
- The UK is joining forces with the Republic of Korea to address energy efficiency challenges in rolling out more innovative and safer networks
Research and development into the next generation of 5G and 6G wireless technology and telecommunications security is to be boosted as part of a £110 million government investment.
In a package announced today, three of the UK’s top universities, the University of York, the University of Bristol and the University of Surrey, will receive a share of £28 million to team up with major telecommunications companies, including Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, to designed and built future networks such as 6G.
The move will strengthen the UK’s status as a global leader in telecommunications research and follows the recent decision by Ericsson and Samsung to establish state-of-the-art 6G research centers in the UK. It will also support the lightning fast 5G rollout by making it easier for more companies to enter the market.
The universities will work with world-leading academics and industry players in the UK to ensure that future network technology, including 6G, is designed in a way that promotes a more diverse and innovative telecoms market and brings an end to current network setups where all equipment within networks must be from one supplier.
The package includes £80m for a state-of-the-art UK Telecoms Lab being built in Solihull, West Midlands. Under a new contract signed by the government with the National Physical Laboratory, the lab will act as a secure research facility for mobile network operators, vendors and academics to research and test the security, resilience and performance of their 5G and, in the future, 6G network technology. The facility will also create dozens of specialized telecommunications and cybersecurity jobs in the region.
A new R&D partnership with the Republic of Korea has also been launched, which aims to accelerate the deployment of Open RAN and related technologies. The joint project, which will receive more than £3 million (including £1.2 million from the UK government), will focus on the energy efficiency of the new technical equipment – one of the main obstacles holding back the introduction of this new technology.
An open RAN allows operators to “mix and match” equipment from several suppliers within the network, and is key to the government’s £250m strategy to end the UK’s reliance on a small number of firms to build and maintain 5G networks. It will help the country build a more diverse, competitive and secure telecommunications supply chain.
Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said:
The technology that powers our phone and internet networks is evolving rapidly and with 6G on the horizon we need to stay ahead of the curve.
This Government investment will enable the UK’s top universities to join forces with industry to develop the nuts and bolts of the new networks, create skilled jobs testing the security of the latest telecoms technology and ensure our plan for a more diverse and innovative 5G market is delivered. maintained into the future.
The funding will also boost our work to strengthen telecoms supply chains so we no longer rely on a handful of companies to develop and maintain our 5G networks.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said:
Technology is one of the most exciting and fastest growing sectors in our region, so it’s great news that this £80m UK Telecoms Lab is being built in Solihull, reinforcing the sector’s importance to us here in the West Midlands.
The laboratory will bring together a wide range of stakeholders in order to drive innovation and create new high-quality jobs for the local population. With our technology sector already worth over £15 billion, I can’t wait to see how this lab helps open up an exciting future in the months and years ahead.
5G connectivity will revolutionize people’s daily lives and increase business productivity through much faster internet speeds, as well as underpin new technologies such as driverless cars, improved artificial intelligence and precision healthcare.
Today’s funding package follows last week’s announcement that the United States, Canada and Australia have committed to working more closely together to diversify their telecommunications supply chains. As part of this, they have signed up to the UK’s principles for the development and deployment of Open RAN equipment. The principles aim to guide public and private investment in Open RAN so that it delivers on its promise of a more competitive, innovative and secure telecommunications market.
The UK is becoming one of the best places in the world to invest in Open RAN. The £250m 5G 5G Diversification Strategy, published in November 2020, sets out where the government will remove barriers to new suppliers, invest in open technologies such as Open RAN and work with like-minded countries to achieve a common goal for secure and resilient telecoms supply chains.
The measures announced today support the UK’s strategy to reduce reliance on a small number of suppliers to build and maintain telecoms networks and support a joint ambition with UK mobile network operators in December 2021 to have 35 per cent of mobile network traffic pass through the Open RAN by the end of the decade, as and a series of investments worth more than £50m in innovative research and development facilities for new Open RAN solutions.
Hamish MacLeod, CEO of Mobile UK, said:
Mobile UK welcomes this package of Government announcements. International collaboration and investment in R&D of this kind is absolutely necessary if the UK is to be a leader in developing open networks that promote the highest standards of security, innovation and energy efficiency.
President Sung Bae Jun of the Korea Information and Communication Technology Planning and Evaluation Institute said:
It is a great pleasure to launch this UK-ROK Open RAN R and D collaboration where Korean and UK companies will work together to develop innovative solutions to key open RAN and telecommunications challenges.
I am also pleased to sign a joint DCMS-IITP Terms of Service which will guide our cooperation and support further UK-RoK exchange. Both the UK and the UK recognize the importance of initiatives to support innovation in telecommunications and to support the resilience of telecommunications infrastructure supply chains.
THE ENDS
Notes to editors
- To ensure that the UK can realize the full economic and social potential of 5G, the government is developing a wireless infrastructure strategy, which will set out a strategic framework to drive investment and take-up of 5G.
- The strategy will also set out the government’s vision for 6G, which will outline how the government will work to shape the next generation of mobile technology to ensure it meets the needs of people and businesses.
- DCMS is working with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to develop a series of future Communication Systems Research Centers that will provide a springboard for further 6G R and D investment.
Future Open Network Research Competition (FONRC) winners.
For more details on projects and members, see the project summary page here.
About UK Telecoms Lab (UKTL)
- The UK Telecoms Lab, first announced in October, will help to bring faster mobile technology to life faster and ensure people continue to have full confidence in Britain’s networks by identifying national security risks and vulnerabilities and ensuring that vital equipment and software be protected from cyber attacks.
- As demand for 5G grows and with next-generation 6G on the horizon, having a new national research center in one location will allow telecom companies and suppliers to test their equipment – such as radio network infrastructure and the software that supports it – in a real-world environment.
- The lab will help new businesses enter the UK telecoms market by testing to ensure equipment is fully ‘interoperable’, meaning it can connect to kit supplied by different manufacturers, increasingly important to the government’s £250m strategy pounds to diversify 5G telecoms in the UK. market.
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of the Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol, said:
The University of Bristol is delighted to lead this partnership and drive the development of future open 6G network solutions in the UK. Our project, REASON, engages a consortium of partners representing the entire telecommunications research and development ecosystem, including leading UK universities, major equipment suppliers, service and content providers and innovative SMEs.
REASON will address the key technology challenges of delivering end-to-end open network solutions, taking into account all network segments and functions. The project will seek breakthroughs in lifting current systems bottlenecks, such as interoperability, agility, sustainability, resilience and security, and will position UK-born technologies as candidates to deliver future solutions.
UK-RoK Open RAN R and D cooperation
The RoK project is sponsored by DCMS and the Korea Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion (IITP) who also signed Terms of Reference in November to guide departmental support for UK-ROK telecommunications cooperation, agreed between DCMS. Managing Director Suzanna Storey and IITP President Sung Bae Jun.
The project aims to:
- Allow companies and research organizations from the UK and South Korea to collaborate on Open RAN R and D and develop new products and solutions for the market.
- Accelerate the development of energy-efficient technologies, products and solutions for open RAN systems.
- Conduct a joint assessment of the overall power budget of open RAN base stations versus traditional base stations, to identify critical items and ensure that any improvement has a significant impact on consumption.
- By the end of the collaboration, move the energy efficiency of Open RAN solutions closer to the standard set by the incumbents.
Details about the winners of the RoK competition can be found here.
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