The previous UK Government’s £250 million 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy aimed to incentivise the industry to create new products and services to unlock the full potential of Open RAN. 

FRANC was the first intervention DSIT announced from the Open Networks Programme in 2021. A total of 14 projects were funded to support the goals of the Government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy.

These projects have enabled a wide range of organisations to focus on developing technical solutions such as: 

To ensure that SMEs have a front-row seat to telecoms standards making, our Standards Champion, Andy Reid, attends key standards meetings to observe, participate in conversations and report back on key themes and discussion points.

Here, Reid shares his reflections on the recent 3GPP workshop in Rotterdam.

What was the Standards Body?

Written By Nigel Toon

Graphcore today announced that the company has been acquired by SoftBank Group Corp. Under the deal, Graphcore becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank and will continue to operate under the Graphcore name. 

Building on the UK’s regional and national strengths, UKTIN’s Clusters Group exists to provide an open forum for inter-regional collaboration, sharing of best practices, insights and dissemination of learnings. Its overarching aim is to advance the adoption of advanced connectivity and has been designed to ensure all regions and nations of the UK can benefit equally. 

The group focuses on showcasing and highlighting the capabilities and approaches of individual regions. Richard Greenslade, a Technical Architect at Coventry Council, shared his insights.

Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) has joined the AI-RAN Alliance to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and innovations in radio access networks (RAN). Established in early 2024, the alliance is a collaborative initiative bringing together technology, industry, and academic institutions to integrate AI into cellular technology to enhance RAN performance and mobile network capabilities.

Hello, I am George Gibson, a co-founder at Streetwave. Our two-year-old start-up is a product of the Welsh Government’s charity incubator, The Alacrity Foundation. The organisation researches the biggest challenges facing UK society, and mobile connectivity has been identified as a fundamental part of that.

According to a newly published forecast report by Dell’Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, the Mobile Core Network (MCN) market 5-year cumulative revenue forecast is expected to decline 10 percent (2024-2028). The reduction in the forecast is caused by severe economic headwinds, primarily the high inflation rates, and the slow adoption of 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks by Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

Using Samsung S24 smartphones as cameras, along with core and RAN gear from Cisco, Orange says it will capture footage that traditional systems would not.

The 5G Innovation Region (5GIR) programme has seen 10 regions throughout the UK receive £36m of funding as part of our wider programme to drive 5G adoption. With a focus on key sectors where there is local capability and opportunities, the projects aim to enable the UK to take full advantage of the transformative effect that advanced wireless connectivity and digital technologies can provide.