UK awards ~£80.5m to Open RAN projects for 5G supply-chain diversification

The UK Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) awarded approximately £80.5m through the Open Networks Ecosystem competition to fund multiple Open RAN and private 5G demonstration projects across the UK.

• Main announcement: DSIT funded a portfolio of projects to support the UK 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, awarding a combined funding envelope of ~£80.5m to consortia delivering Open RAN hardware, software, testbeds and live demonstrations. Key funded projects include ONE WORD (~£10m), SCONDA (~£8.5m), BEACH (~£8.34m), Liverpool City Region (~£7.8m), HiPer-RAN (~£7.6m), CORE (~£7m) and ARIANE (~£6m). Project timelines generally ran from September 2023 to March 2025 (some to December/September 2025 as noted).
• Context and implementation details: Projects were required to develop, demonstrate and test Open RAN solutions (software including RIC/xApps/rApps, interoperable hardware, and live deployments). Outputs included operational prototypes, live demonstrations at events and venues, energy-efficiency measurements (e.g., AURA reporting ~30% lower electrical power in some scenarios), open-source releases, closure reports and documented technical guidance to inform future deployments. Many projects followed a lab-to-live approach (lab integration, testbeds, then live trials) with specified delivery windows (most: Sept 2023 – Mar 2025; exceptions listed individually in closure reports).