Virgin Media O2 Boosts UK 5G Private Network Plans with Accenture
Broadband and mobile giant Virgin Media O2 has teamed-up with IT services company Accenture to boost their 5G private network capabilities for UK businesses, which may help them to “seize opportunities” in the country’s growing mobile private network market – estimated to reach £528 million by 2030 (STL Partners forecast).
Private 5G networks are typically created to serve specific sites, such as busy ports or factories, while the more familiar public networks are the sort that we all use when making calls or harnessing mobile broadband via our Smartphones etc.
On this front, VMO2 has already done a lot of work, such as last year when they became the first telecoms operator to launch a commercially-available portable 5G private network using Nokia’s latest 5G Standalone (SA) technology (here).
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The new deal with Accenture aims to build on that by harnessing a “broad set of applications for multiple industry segments“, such as computer vision artificial intelligence for product quality control monitoring of equipment (i.e. to help meet factory floor compliance requirements) and queue management systems to improve customer experiences.
Jo Bertram, MD of Business and Wholesale at VMO2, said:
“Building on Virgin Media O2’s established expertise in deploying mobile private networks, this new partnership with Accenture leverages their industry-specific knowledge and proven digital platform and solutions to help broaden our offering to businesses. From facilitating safe communication on construction sites to powering critical devices in hospitals, businesses across a range of sectors will have access to a one-stop shop of innovative, adaptive and secure mobile private network solutions.”
The new solutions will be built on Accenture’s Edge Orchestration Platform and incorporate edge computing, data and AI, as well as embedded cybersecurity focusing initially on the construction, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, utilities, warehousing and sports venue sectors.
Related trials and collaborations will “scale up in the coming months” as joint customer implementations begin to be deployed.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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I get that these private 5G sites are commissioned by businesses for their own sites, but can they be used by any old consumer O2 SIM if they happen to be passing by? Or are they for bespoke use only?
Normally private means private, but the flexibility does often exist for such networks to be made more accessible. This may depend more upon the commissioning company’s desires than the network or network operator itself.
The company I work for has an old O2 infrastructure giving 3G / 4G coverage around the building via a dedicated link. However, anyone who is on O2 can connect to it.
I’d imagine this would be similar.
So when are they going to sort out their very poor network speeds?
Never
I always thought that 5G private networks where effectively mvno’s with option for dedicated infrastructure like for a mine site / oil rig or otherwise remote situation.
I see my thoughts where more along the lines of “Private 5G delivered via network slicing”
“Neutral host networks with a RAN and signal sharing” or “private 5G network slicing” could be used by car makers etc for connecting their vehicles for updates & tracking.
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/private-5g-networks.html#~private-5g-networks
Will be interesting to see how small the smallest companies that will be served by this.
Given that there tends to be next to no signal in modern, triple glazed offices, this makes a lot of sense.
As someone working on project with Accenture currently, they leave a lot to be desired so it’ll be interesting to see how this turns out…