How open and disaggregated private networks can benefit rural communities to level up
The need to find a way of delivering the latest technology to rural communities is integral in order to level up the areas allowing our rural areas to prosper both socially and economically. The work of Mobile Access North Yorkshire (MANY), via lead technical partners Quickline Communications, in delivering and commercialising an OPEN RAN network highlights the significance of the DCMS 5G Testbed & Trials programme and the importance of diversifying the telecoms industry to demonstrate the business case and drive adoption of 5G ensuring that it works for all.
The Future Telecoms Infrastructure report highlighted that rural areas have been left behind. This has been heightened by the Covid pandemic where rural businesses have struggled to move their services online and residents felt isolated unable to engage in online meetings or see friends and family. All this, whilst rural areas are bottoming out with many of the working age moving away partly due to the lack of infrastructure, which is in place.
Via the work of MANY – a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) 5G Testbed and Trial project – a 5G Stand Alone network has been deployed in one of the most rural areas of North Yorkshire supporting the lives and livelihoods of those who live, work and visit one of the most rural areas of the country. This highlights that 5G is a very good solution to connect hard to reach places.
Early on in the project and under the guidance of DCMS, there was an understanding that there was risk in using one supplier and ultimately there is a need to diversify the supply chain.
This drove the Quickline team to change their thinking giving a catalyst for change; driving innovation to look at different organisations that could provide different products. This allowed the team to explore new ways of working, driving network disaggregation and finding a way of bringing different suppliers together. Through this work, Quickline are in the process of deploying – what is thought to be - one of the most advanced 5G Stand Alone O-RAN Networks globally.
The work carried out has supported Quickline’s future ambitions allowing them to build on its FWA history. Yet, it has also assisted the Governments ambitions to diversify the supply chain whilst hitting the mark of the ambition of the Testbed programme to show how projects can commercialise any findings.
Quickline’s learnings are already being deployed across many of their commercial sites. Their strategy is to give their customers the digital life they deserve wherever they are, whatever they do. This means that the company is using its technology to provide an excellent service to all to deliver on its vison of Broadband for the better. This vision ensures that rural areas will not be left behind.
Quickline is providing rural communities with fast broadband in order that they can benefit from digital services that most take for granted. Yet, it also opens up new opportunities. For example, use cases, such as Agri Tech and Telemedicine - which have been trialled as part of the 5G Testbed projects - can be built over the top of Quickline’s network. This – not only – will accelerate the adoption of 5G but also puts our rural areas at the heart of the latest technology so the telecoms industry can do its bit to level up.
Interested in finding out more?
Book onto our latest event and hear direct from Quickline about how they have delivered a 5G network to North Yorkshire.
Private Networks User Guides & podcast
Private networks: a new user guide by techUK
Our #techUKPrivateNetworks campaign week celebrated the publication of a new user guide techUK has produced, to help prospective private networks customers, across enterprise and the public sector, understand the key benefits of adopting advanced connectivity in their organisations. The guide helps users as they formulate a business case for investing in enhanced private networks, and the key success factors. We also shine a spotlight on several case studies.
Private network ecosystem: Management model - A new techUK guide
techUK's Advanced Communications Services Working Group created a new guide for organisations considering building out services using 5G networking technology entitled 'Private network ecosystem: Management model'.
It introduces and describes the principles of neutral hosts, and then goes on to describe the architecture and ecosystem which supports the provision of shared services, particularly in the context of high capacity/low latency applications, which will drive 5G deployment. While this paper is focussed on 5G, many of the principles of neutral hosts, and the discussion of edge versus core provision will apply to other technologies such as Wi-Fi, including Wi-Fi 6.
The techUK podcast: Making the case for Private Networks
In this episode of the techUK podcast, we explore the topic of private networks for enterprise, specifically, how we can accelerate the deployment of private networks from beyond the testbed phase and drive adoption across industry and the public sector.
The episode covers the key challenges for enterprise customers that the telecoms sector can address with advanced connectivity services, including 5G and Wi-Fi 6, and how we, the supplier base, can effectively deliver on the benefits of private networks.
Sophie James, Head of Telecoms and Spectrum Policy at techUK, joins a conversation with Simon Parry, CTO at Nokia Enterprise, Catherine Gull, Consultant at Cellnex and Dez O’Connor, Senior Manager at Cisco. Sophie also catches up with Mike Kennett, Senior Consultant & Head of Regulatory Affairs at Freshwave.
To read more from the Future Private Networks campaign week check out our landing page here.