For the collaboration, each country’s government will fund a group of several companies to work together to accelerate the development of technical solutions to improve power efficiency in O-RAN networks.
The collaboration forms part of a £25m allocation by the government towards what it is calling the ‘Future Open Networks Research Challenge’ - which will fund early-stage research into open and interoperable telecom solutions.
To coordinate the challenge, a new £10 million body called the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN) has been set up to act as a hub for industry and academics looking to access funding or R&D testing facilities. Teams from Digital Catapult, CW (Cambridge Wireless), University of Bristol and West Midlands 5G have been tasked with heading up UKTIN by the government.
A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said: “By supporting the emergence of interoperable solutions, the Open Networks R&D Fund aims to improve the resilience of the nation’s telecoms networks, lower deployment costs, and enable innovative new players to take on the incumbents.
“The measures announced today offer further opportunities to build on the UK’s thriving R&D into advanced telecoms and enable operators to access more diversity in the supply chain while enhancing security and innovation.”
The new funds will build on the government’s previously announced joint ambition made with leading UK mobile network operators (MNOs) for 35% of mobile network traffic to pass through Open RAN by the end of the decade alongside £50m funding to support the development of new Open RAN solutions.
