The UK Government has committed £88 million to support 19 Open RAN projects through the Open Networks Ecosystem (ONE) competition. This funding aims to accelerate development and deployment of interoperable radio access network technologies that allow components from different suppliers to work together.
Open RAN marks a major shift in how mobile networks are designed and deployed. Instead of depending on a single vendor’s proprietary equipment, Open RAN enables multi-vendor interoperability, encouraging competition, innovation, and greater supply-chain diversity.
Nick Johnson, Head of UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN), said:
“The Government’s funding to tackle adoption barriers of open mobile networks is another significant contribution to the telecoms industry, and once again highlights the important role the sector plays in driving connectivity and economic growth in the UK. Building a diversified telecoms infrastructure in the UK is crucial to unlocking opportunities for growth and creating a prosperous future. The projects announced today, in support of that mission, will both deliver exciting innovations and consider how to overcome some of the tricky but important challenges to wide-scale deployments.”
Adopting Open RAN promises more adaptable, flexible and resilient mobile networks. Recent efforts to remove certain vendors from Western 5G networks underscored the industry’s need for more vendor choice and supplier diversity.
The £88 million investment will support projects that develop and demonstrate Open RAN solutions, with a focus on locations that experience heavy mobile traffic. Tests and deployments will target busy urban areas, transport hubs, stadiums and event venues where demand for reliable, high-capacity connectivity is greatest.
Planned trial locations include:
- Major urban centres such as Glasgow, Cambridge, Liverpool, Bath and the City of London.
- Prominent sports and entertainment sites including Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, the National eSport Arena, Cambridge Corn Exchange and the Shelsley Walsh motorsport venue.
- Seaside resorts with historic and tourist appeal like Blackpool and Worthing.
Sir John Whittingdale, Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure, stressed the importance of building a diverse and secure technology landscape:
“The projects we’re backing today with £88 million in government research and development investment will use innovative Open RAN solutions to make our mobile networks more adaptable and resilient, with future-proofed technology to support bringing lightning-fast connections across the country for many years to come.”
Running until March 2025, these initiatives are funded via the government’s Open Networks Research and Development Fund. The programme aims to strengthen the security and resilience of communications infrastructure while fostering competition and innovation across the 5G supply chain.
Major UK mobile operators — BT/EE, Three UK, Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone — have endorsed the government’s Open RAN Principles. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between government and industry supports an ambition for 35 percent of UK network traffic to be carried over open, interoperable RAN technologies by 2030.
Hamish MacLeod, Chief Executive of Mobile UK, commented on the role of Open RAN:
“The development of open and interoperable RAN solutions is important to the UK’s mobile industry. This announcement highlights Mobile UK’s member operator’s ongoing R&D trial and deployment programmes, helping progress solutions to realise ambitions to grow traffic over open RAN architecture.”
The government announcement coincides with Vodafone’s recent deployment of Open RAN equipment at 2,500 sites across Wales and the South West of England, reflecting industry momentum behind the technology.
As the UK’s mobile infrastructure evolves with Open RAN, the expected benefits include faster and more reliable connections, improved network resilience and a more competitive vendor ecosystem. Demonstrations at high-profile venues and urban centres will provide practical evidence of these gains, helping businesses and citizens access dependable, high-speed mobile services.
A list of successful ONE competition projects is available through official government publications.
See also: UK to rejoin EU’s Copernicus and Horizon schemes
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