UK hopes to boost 5G adoption with £36M regional funding

The UK government has awarded £36 million (US$44.7 million) in funding to ten projects aiming to spur 5G adoption across the country. While this may not make a big splash compared to spending by operators and vendors, the hope is that the projects will help to create services that are scalable nationwide.

Each of the ten projects focuses on a different area, or "5G Innovation Region," of the UK. The use cases themselves also span a large area, from farming to smart grids to port operations. 

In Greater Manchester, for example, 5G will be used to connect heat pumps installed in social housing, creating a smart grid to improve the management of power infrastructure. The same 5G network will also be used to improve traffic flow by prioritizing public transport and reducing CO2 emissions.

The city will also use 5G in social housing for health-at-home applications and to detect mold. A similar use case has been outlined in Glasgow, which will use a part of its £3.2 million ($4 million) funding toward net-zero social housing, alongside health and social care monitoring. 

Part of Oxfordshire's £3.8 million ($4.7 million) allocation, meanwhile, will go toward a private 5G network at the Harwell innovation campus, where different technology clusters will focus on energy, space and health. The funds will also be used to set up a pilot 5G network along East West Rail, which will be made available to businesses and farms along the route, as well as passengers.

In Belfast, Ulster University will be using some of the region's £3.8 million funding for a 5G-in-a-box technology providing high-capacity uplinks between filming locations and production studios. Belfast Harbour will, meanwhile, accelerate automatic bulk freight handling and safety improvements as part of the Innovation Region, while a grant scheme will make funds available to SMEs to harness 5G.

Sparking adoption

One of the things that is noteworthy about the project is the large number of use cases given the amount of funding being made available.

The award is part of the UK's Wireless Infrastructure Strategy, which the government hopes will create additional economic benefits.

It points to "research showing widespread adoption could result in productivity benefits of £159 billion [$197.6 billion] by 2035."

Participating in the scaling up will be the UK Telecom Innovation Network (UKTIN), an organization that was launched earlier this year with a budget of £10 million ($12 million) to create a telecom innovation ecosystem by bringing together members of the industry, government and academia, with a focus on new entrants to the market.

UKTIN's head, Nick Johnson, explained the organization's role: "We will collaborate with successful regions to overcome adoption hurdles and deliver best practice and insights to communities across the country, so that all regions and nations can benefit from the lessons being learned through both 5G Innovation Regions and other relevant initiatives."

Light Reading spoke to Nick Johnson earlier this year and asked him how relatively low levels of funding can be leveraged to spur innovation. He pointed to the "equipment of capitalism" as a potential source of extra funding, pointing to venture capital in particular. In his view, investment will come if there is a strong enough business case.

It remains to be seen if some of the government-funded innovation will spark the interest of someone with deeper pockets.