The announcement follows the ban on Huawei equipment from 5G networks and the recent introduction of the Telecommunications Security Act.
The government has agreed with the UK mobile network operators (MNOs) Vodafone, EE, Virgin Media O2 and Three that 2033 will be the date by which all public 2G and 3G networks in the UK will be switched off.
The plans will free up spectrum to allow for the mass rollout of 5G and future networks such as 6G.
The new plans include a joint ambition for 35% of the UK’s mobile network traffic to be carried over Open RAN by 2030.
A current barrier for new suppliers entering the UK’s 5G market is that they must, as it stands, offer 2G or 3G services because they are required by all four domestic mobile operators.
Setting out a timeline for winding down these services follows recommendations from the Diversification Taskforce and will allow new suppliers to enter the market by giving them certainty on when they can start work building 5G networks across Britain.
Some individual operators will switch off their networks, particularly their 3G networks, earlier than 2033, and will announce their own plans on timing.
The government has revealed the winners of its £36 million competition to fund R&D projects across the UK to develop O-RAN technology.
The 15 winning consortiums in the Future Radio Access Network Competition (FRANC )will develop technical solutions – such as radio transmitters, signal processing equipment, power management systems and the software – required to roll out open RAN solutions across the UK quickly and attract new home-grown telecoms suppliers to the 5G supply chain.
In a boost to levelling up, the investment will be spread across the UK , including Glasgow, Cardiff, Cambridge, Newcastle, Newport, Slough and Ebbw Vale.
The government is also announcing a cash injection of up to £15 million for SONIC Labs – a test facility based in London and Brighton and run by Digital Catapult with the support of Ofcom to enable telecoms suppliers to test their early stage products in real-world mobile network settings.
SONIC Labs opened in June 2021 with an investment of £1 million. The extra £15 million will be invested so the Lab can expand its programme of testing and international engagement. The new FRANC winners are expected to work closely with the labs.
FRANC Winners
- Full details on the individual FRANC winners have been published online.
| Project Name | Lead organisation | Consortium partners | DCMS funds | Tech area(s) | Location(s) |
| Accelerating RAN Intelligence in 5G (ARI-5G) | Telecom Infra Project (TIP) | Accelleran
Amdocs AttoCore British Telecommunications Plc VIAVI West Midlands 5G |
£2,377,686 | Software Platforms, mMIMO (massive multiple input, multiple output) antenna technology, Multi-access Edge Computing, RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) | Newbury, Ipswich, London, Cambridge, Birmingham, Stevenage |
| ORanGaN | Inex Microtechnology Limited | Custom Interconnect Ltd
Viper RF Limited Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult Limited |
£2,435,528 | Power efficiency, Fronthaul/Backhaul network architecture, Silicon/GaN (Gallium Nitride) chips, Radio Frequency components | Newport, Newcastle, County Durham |
| Best of British RAN Development | Telet Research (N.I.) Limited | cellXica Limited
AccelerComm Limited |
£3,304,766 | Power Efficiency, Spectrum Management, Radio Unit development, Private Band spectrum, End-to-end network | London, Southampton, Cambridge |
| Flexible, Efficient and High-Performance 5G Open RAN (Flex-5G) | AWTG Limited | Lime Microsystems Limited, University of Surrey, Vodafone Limited, Commscope Solutions UK Limited, Viavi Solutions UK Limited, Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC) (non-funded); O2 (UK) Limited (non-funded), Cambridgeshire County Council (non-funded), Amazon Web Services (AWS) (non-funded), Zain Saudi Arabia (non-funded) | £4,681,242 | Software Defined Radio, Radio Frequency components, Radio Unit development, End-to-end network | London |
| UK 5G DU-Volution | ADVA Optical Networking Ltd. | AccelerComm Ltd, British Telecommunications Plc, CommAgility Ltd, University of York, Scotland5GCentre | £4,659,606 | Power Efficiency, Spectrum Management, Distributed Unit development | York, Southampton, Ipswich, Leicestershire, Glasgow |
| Energy-efficient Cloudlets for ORAN (ECORAN) | University of Leeds | Ultracell Networks Ltd | £492,000 | Power efficiency, Fronthaul/Backhaul network architecture, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning | Leeds |
| Secure 5G Platform using Novel, Efficient Wideband PA | Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult | Lime Microsystems Limited
Slipstream Engineering Design Limited Arqit Limited |
£1,097,950 | Power efficiency, Security, Software Defined Radio, Radio Frequency components | Newport, Surrey, London, Shipley |
| Proteus | Parallel Wireless UK Limited | British Telecommunications PLC
University of Bristol Wireless Excellence Limited Arm Limited (non-funded partner) Real Wireless Limited (non-funded partner) |
£3,718,751 | Software Platforms, Fronthaul/Backhaul network architecture | Bristol, Ipswich |
| Future RAN Radio Test System | AceAxis Limited | MAC Limited | £365,641 | Power efficiency, Radio Frequency components, Radio Unit development | Swindon, Southampton |
| Scalable Optical Fronthaul for 5G OpenRAN | Rushmere Technology Limited | Teropta Limited
British Telecommunications plc Compound Semiconductor Centre Aston University |
£1,526,886 | Security, Fronthaul/Backhaul network architecture | Cardiff, Ipswich, Nottingham and Birmingham |
| CoMP-O-RAN (Coordinated Multipoint Open Radio Access Network) | Dense Air Limited | Airspan Communications Limited
Blu Wireless Technology limited University of Glasgow Radisys UK Limited |
£4,732,473 | Systems integration, Fronthaul/Backhaul network architecture, End-to-end network, Radio Unit development | Millbrook |
| O-RANOS | Cellnex Connectivity Solutions ltd | University of Bristol
ATTOCORE Weaver Labs Satellite Applications Catapult Parallel Wireless |
£1,937,528 | Software platforms, Mobile Edge Computing, Telecoms Operations and Maintenance, End-to-end network | Bristol |
| BEACON-5G | Toshiba Europe Ltd. UK | Thales UK Limited
Attocore Ltd Coventry University South Gloucestershire Council |
£1,568,562 | Systems integration, Security, End-to-end network, Private Band spectrum | Ebbw Vale, Bristol |
| 5G DRIVE | Virgin Media O2 | wavemobile Ltd
Cisco Ori Industries University of Warwick (WMG) |
£1,430,470 | Security, Indoor and Outdoor networks, End-to-end network | Slough |
| Towards AI Powered and Secure Carrier-Grade Open RAN Platform | Microsoft UK | Intel R&D UK Ltd.
Capgemini Engineering University of Edinburgh |
£1,928,756 | Security, Software Platforms, Radio Unit and Distributed Unit development, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) | Edinburgh, Cambridge, Manchester, Bath2G and 3G to be phased out and O-RAN tontakec |