Gov Names Winners of New Pilots to Aid 5G via Street Furniture UPDATE

The UK Government has today awarded £4m to support 8 new 2-year long pilots under the Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator (DCIA) project, which will test ways of making it easier for network operators to access and deploy 5G mobile (mobile broadband) infrastructure on street furniture and public buildings.

Deploying mobile infrastructure on public street furniture (e.g. CCTV poles, traffic lights, lampposts and bus shelters), usually via small cells with limited local coverage (e.g. useful for covering busy areas, such as shopping malls or tourist attractions), is already quite common in the United Kingdom.

However, securing such access often requires specific negotiations and concession agreements with multiple local authorities, which may also be exclusive to a particular operator. In addition, you can often only fit so much kit on certain sites before the space runs out.

Network operators can also find it difficult to acquire the information needed to verify that a structure is suitable, such as its location, physical dimensions, proximity to the street or access to a power source (i.e. any cells you deploy still need data capacity and power, which may be difficult to access).

In response, the government has invested in several pilots to test the latest innovations in digital asset management platforms (software). Such software will enable local councils to more easily share the sort of data that mobile companies need to boost their rollout plans and deliver the benefits of 4G and 5G to people and businesses.

Julia Lopez, UK Digital Infrastructure Minister, said:

“Everyone gets frustrated when their mobile signal is poor, particularly when patchy coverage holds up important work and social calls and makes it harder to do stuff online. That is why we are determined to get the UK the connectivity it needs by rolling out better mobile coverage as quickly as possible.

Currently, mobile companies are finding it difficult to get the data they need to check that a lamppost, bus shelter or public building is suitable for hosting their kit. These eight pilots will help solve this by modernising the way local authorities and operators work together in a way that ultimately delivers faster, more reliable mobile coverage for millions of people.

It is all part of our joined-up strategy to deliver world-class connectivity to every corner of our country.”

Gareth Elliott, Director of Policy and Communications of Mobile UK, said:

“Reducing the time it takes to deploy mobile infrastructure is important to enable mobile operators to roll out 4G and 5G across the country and to meet ambitious government targets.

The DCIA trial and its project winners will provide positive examples of how local authorities can use technology to speed up processes and develop effective relationships with mobile operators to improve coverage for all.”

The announcement states that the project will mean communities in 44 local authority areas can expect to benefit from faster and more reliable mobile coverage sooner. It could also mean there is less need for new masts, which can often take longer to set-up and aren’t always popular, although exactly what sort of impact it will have on this is hard to quantify. But if successful, the technology may be rolled out to local authorities across the UK.

The project winners are based across England and Scotland as part of the government’s mission to level up access to fast and reliable connectivity. Areas to benefit from the pilots include Angus, Dundee, Fife, Perth and Kinross in Scotland, as well as Tyneside, Sunderland, Dudley, Wolverhampton, Somerset, Dorset and several other areas across England.

The DCIA project also collaborates closely with other government programmes, such as the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), to ensure alignment of data models and coordination of stakeholder engagement. Sadly, the Government (DCMS) did not provide a summary of the 8 pilots alongside their press release, although by the time you read this it should be viewable online (here).

We hope to update with details of the new pilots later.

UPDATE 9th Feb 2022 @ 7:13am

We now have the list of pilots.

The 8 Pilot Projects

Asset Loc8tor

• Funding: £498,333
• Location: West Sussex
• Partners: West Sussex County Council (WSCC), Arun District Council, Adur and Worthing Councils, Chichester District Council, Crawley Borough Council, Horsham District Council and Mid-Sussex District Council.

WSCC has established a county-wide Mobile Connectivity Asset Management project to better enable Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and their representatives with access to land, buildings and other assets suitable to host communications infrastructure. WSCC has collected and collated asset management data from all two-tier local authorities and conducted a countywide survey of 4G mobile services. Mapping has been overlayed with asset data to consider how to improve coverage in poorly served areas by using Council assets.

Asset Loc8tor builds on progress to date and explores legal and regulatory challenges, risks and issues. Using a neutral host model, we will better understand how to structure arrangements to assist MNOs to invest in greater coverage of 4G services.

Asset Loc8tor asset management platform will enable MNOs and asset owners to:

• Access high quality asset data of available sites
• Identify asset owners
• Communicate with asset owners
• Understand coverage issues
• Co-ordinate asset planning and management

Our ambition is to actively work towards achieving a fully automated platform for site acquisition including financial transactions, automated purchasing of access to assets and streamlined processes. We expect to deliver a product to test with the market which could then be further enhanced into a fully integrated platform.

Berkshire Digital Infrastructure Group

• Funding: £500,000
• Location: West Berkshire
• Partners: Berkshire Digital Infrastructure Group, West Berkshire Council, Bracknell Forrest, Slough Council, Reading Borough Council, The Royal Borough Of Windsor & Maidenhead, Wokingham Borough Council.

The Digital Infrastructure Group, representing the 6 Berkshire Local Authorities, will work to deliver and achieve improved digital connectivity across the Thames Valley Region. By working together collaboratively we will achieve a ‘Connected Berkshire’ and the delivery of our Digital Strategy.

Working with our partners, Asset Market and Vodafone, the project will let us run test processes to help digitise site acquisition. The new platform will then test a number of scenarios across all 6 different regions. These assets include: urban, rural, social housing, town centre, public buildings and transport and street assets. We will deliver a baseline product that has a clean set of data with specific product sets available to all users.

We will establish a single common data environment with accurate mapped information that can be visualised and recorded spatially. By working with our Authorities and Partners we will understand the obstacles, barriers, share lesson learned and overcome issues together.

We will be able to drive consistency in asset data standards and the importance of 5G connectivity, by collaboration with Estates, Legal, Highways and Planning teams. This will shape the way we look at Local Authority asset management and help shape the approach to delivering 5G technology.

Infralink-Exchange

• Funding: £500,000
• Location: Tay Cities Region (Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Perth and Kinross)
• Partners: Scottish Futures Trust, Angus Council, Dundee City Council, Fife Council, Perth and Kinross Council.

Building on the work of the Infralink programme, delivered by infrastructure body the Scottish Futures Trust and funded by the Scotland 5G Centre to improve mobile digital connectivity in Scotland, Infralink-Exchange will promote the deployment of macro, small cell and neutral host infrastructure across the Tay Cities region.

Infralink-Exchange will productise the identification and collation of data relating to assets and other data that may be relevant to industry’s site assessment process. The key to this is using existing data sets and data aggregators to transfer the process at scale and to ensure the resulting data is maintained and updated with minimal impact on local authority resource.

A dedicated website will collect and host this data to promote the assets and the associated terms and conditions. A lease management tool on the website will help with the smooth interaction between the local authorities and industry by providing a single point of entry into the organisations during contract negotiation and in-life management.

NTCA Future Connectivity Partnership

• Funding: £496,916
• Location: North East
• Partners: North of Tyne Combined Authority, Northumberland County Council, North Tyneside Borough Council, Newcastle City Council, South Tyneside Council, Sunderland City Council.

Through our Partnership we will make it easier, faster, and cheaper for Mobile Network Operators and communities to deploy digital connectivity infrastructure by reusing public assets, streamlining local processes, and standardising our agreement with operators. Through greater visibility of assets and a single point of engagement with us, we will accelerate the deployment of digital infrastructure in the locality to remedy the regional disparity in full-fibre and 5G availability. Our collective aim is to make it easier for operators to deploy assets in our region, and therefore increase connectivity exponentially. Through this and other investment, we will deliver the tele-communications resources that are required to enable our people, our businesses, and our communities to flourish.

The Outcomes Accelerator

• Funding: £494,734
• Location: London
• Partners: The West London Alliance boroughs of Ealing, Hillingdon, Barnet, Brent, Harrow, Hounslow and Hammersmith and Fulham.

The Outcomes Accelerator project will support quicker deployments of new wireless networks in West London, delivering the benefits for businesses, residents and public services sooner. It is a 12 month targeted programme of work to ensure wireless network operators have access to the information they need to plan new wireless networks and address boroughs priorities. The project will support implementation of digital asset management solutions for mapping and brokerage of publicly owned assets for use in the rollout of wireless communication networks. By streamlining processes, boroughs and operators will reduce time spent planning and contracting new infrastructure.

Wessex Digital Infrastructure Accelerator

• Funding: £499,654
• Location: Dorset, Hampshire, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
• Partners: Dorset Council, Hampshire County Council, BCP Council.

The Wessex DCIA project will build on the work started by 5G RuralDorset, having already developed a good understanding of the potential for asset re-use and the importance of mapping specific asset information, so it can be utilised by telecoms infrastructure deployment organisations to speed up delivery and reduce costs. In partnership with a number of the UKs leading mobile network deployment specialists, the project will deliver a “joined up” proof of concept for an asset portal.

The West of England Combined Authority’s Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator

• Funding: £498,000
• Location: West of England Local Enterprise Partnership geography (including the Local Authorities of Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol City, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.)
• Partners: West of England Combined Authority, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council, North Somerset Council, South Gloucestershire Council

Bringing our Local Authorities together with major mobile telecoms industry partners (Three, BT Wholesale and Cellnex Connectivity Solutions), the West of England Combined Authority’s Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator project seeks to increase the roll-out and densification of 5G across the region. Working with Sitenna as our platform partner, the project will investigate how digital asset management platforms can support and increase the use of local authority owned assets as host sites for the range of hardware needed to achieve improved 5G coverage. This Accelerator project is an important first step towards accelerating 5G roll out using publicly owned assets. Meeting the Combined Authority’s target of 95% gigabit capable coverage by 2026 will require rapid roll-out of both fixed and mobile broadband. Mobile (i.e. 5G/4G) broadband will help connect more rural and ‘hard to reach’ communities and will be key to addressing the final 5% of properties and businesses currently without suitable connectivity.

WMCA

• Funding: £499,769
• Location: West Midlands Combined Authority region
• Partners: West Midlands Combined Authority, Warwickshire County Council, Birmingham City Council, Coventry City Council, Dudley Council, Sandwell Council, Solihull Council, Walsall, Wolverhampton.

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is at the forefront of 5G technology, supported by West Midlands 5G (WM5G). WM5G has been pivotal in ensuring the West Midlands is the UK’s best-connected region for 5G, with a portfolio of 30+ use cases demonstrating how 5G can transform productivity and enhance the local economy.

The region is the first to produce a Connected Map, this DCIA pilot provides an excellent opportunity to further develop and prove this concept. 400,000+ assets mapped to-date and the creation of simplified processes and standardised agreements has allowed quicker access to assets, reducing deployment timeframes by 6 months. The new platform will maximise automation of the end-to-end process, focussing on improvements. The end-goal is to create a solution that works for both asset owners and landlords, and delivers a commercial model that can be self-sustaining with the ability to deliver a national rollout.

This pilot is critical in levelling-up the West Midlands. On a micro level providing benefits by adding automation and further standardisation to the acquisition process, reducing time and costs. At the macro level, increasing connectivity creates multiple opportunities to close the digital divide ensuring greater inclusion for citizens, whilst allowing businesses to become more efficient and competitive.