We have done this exercise before; but that was back in 2022, and it is high time to update the list, especially with all the UK activity around private 5G in early 2025. So here goes: a fairly comprehensive list, in reverse-chronological order (we think), of the most notable private (4G and) 5G deployments in the UK, featuring science and research, manufacturing and logistics, ports and shipping, construction, energy production, and healthcare – and most of the familiar supplier names that everyone knows by now. What it shows is that the UK government’s move to liberalise the 3.8-4.2 GHz spectrum band for enterprise usage is working – probably as well as anywhere in Europe. Links included below, variously; but search the website for multiple reports on most of the projects.
1 | Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Oxfordshire (2025)
Network supplier: Vodafone Business
Network vendor: tbc
Network manager: Vodafone Business
Spectrum: tbc
Vodafone has a deal with Oxfordshire County Council to deploy and manage a private 5G network at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, near Didcot in Oxfordshire. The project is funded by the UK government. Work starts imminently (early 2025). Tenants include the National Quantum Computing Centre and the European Space Agency, and a host of quantum computing, space cluster, life sciences, and health-tech organisations. It is pitched squarely as an Industry 4.0 exercise – to “benefit [the] advanced manufacturing industry”. It is unclear whether Vodafone will use a local tranche of its own 5G spectrum, or annex a part of the UK government’s innovation band, reserved for enterprises at 3.8-4.2 GHz. The network vendor is unconfirmed.
2 | National Robotarium, Scotland (2025)
Network supplier: Freshwave
Network vendor: tbc
Network manager: tbc
Spectrum: n77 / 3.8-4.2 GHz
UK tower company Freshwave has deployed a ‘portable’ private 5G network at the National Robotarium in Edinburgh, Scotland, to test and develop commercial robotics solutions for Industry 4.0. Their first project is to develop a robot solution for an agricultural-tech (agri-tech) customer. The National Robotarium is a research partnership between Heriot-Watt University and The University of Edinburgh, focused on robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), human-robot interaction (HRI), and precision laser applications. The network vendor behind the Freshwave solution is unconfirmed; but it is described as “portable”, and features a self-contained pop-up mast that can be powered by a generator. It uses n77 spectrum (at 3.3-4.2 GHz; effectively 3.8-4.2 GHz in the UK, according to the Ofcom allocation for enterprises).
3 | Port of Blyth, Northumberland (2024)
Network supplier: Boldyn Networks
Network vendor: HPE/Athonet (core); Airspan* (RAN)
Network manager: tbc
Spectrum: n77 / 3.8-4.2 GHz (UK)
Shared network specialist Boldyn Networks building a private 5G network at the Port of Blyth in Northumberland. The new infrastructure, based on an HPE/Athonet core network (and likely* an Airspan radio network), will underpin a new innovation lab at the site for local enterprises to test 5G-based Industry 4.0 gear. In particular, it will support the development of 5G solutions for the offshore energy sector. The port has positioned itself as an operating centre for the UK’s offshore energy industry, including wind farms, as well as oil and gas production. It offers development land, open storage, lift quays, and logistics infrastructure. The North East Combined Authority is funding the private 5G project to the tune of £500,000.
4 | Port of Tyne, Northumberland (2023)
Network supplier: BT Business
Network vendor: Ericsson
Network manager: tbc
Spectrum: b7 (2.6 GHz), n77 (3.7 GHz)
The Port of Tyne has deployed a private 4G/5G network across its southern cargo terminal and industrial site in South Shields in the northeast of England. The project has been managed by UK operator BT, which has provided a localised tranche of its own licensed b7 (2.6 GHz) band, plus a chunk of the n77 (3.7 GHz) ‘innovation’ band. Ericsson has supplied the core and radio network components, localised on site. The network was presented at the time (2023) as the UK’s “first site-wide private network deployment… for smart port applications”. The initial installation covered the southern port area at South Shields, one of the country’s key deep sea ports. The northern side, at North Shields, is home to a ferry terminal, and is scheduled to be connected also. Video and sensor devices have been installed to manage and track vehicles; machine vision cameras are running automated container checks. Use cases are building.
5 | Bethlem Royal Hospital, London (2022)
Network supplier: VMO2
Network vendor: Nokia
Network manager: VMO2
Spectrum: tbc
The business arm of UK operator VMO2 has a private 5G deployment at the Bethlem Royal Hospital in South London for remote patient monitoring, remote maintenance, medicine storage and tracking, waste and air quality monitoring, and space mapping and management. Nokia is the network provider; it supplied its Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) platform into the deal. The project is funded by the NHS South London and Maudsley (SLaM) Digital Lab. The network is live across two wards at the hospital, part of the SLaM Trust, with 5G devices in the hands of clinicians, maintenance staff, pharmacy staff, and other hospital workers. A press note at the time called it the UK’s” first 5G-connected hospital”.
6 | British Sugar, East Anglia / Midlands (2022)
Network supplier: VMO2
Network vendor: Nokia
Network manager: VMO2 / Nokia
Spectrum: tbc
British Sugar has a private LTE (4G)network at four factory production sites in the UK, art of British Sugar’s internal ‘factories of the future’ upgrade. At the time, the project was billed as a “first-of-its-kind” deployment covering multiple venues across a large geographical area. VMO2 handled the build phase, as a “custom-built private 4G network”, with Nokia as a “strategic partner”. It is unclear whether the project uses shared / private ‘vertical’ spectrum, or utilises a local tranche of VMO2’s licensed spectrum in the UK. In total, it spans an operational area of more than two square kilometres, scattered in four patches across Norfolk, Suffolk, and Nottinghamshire. VMO2 is on a seven-year (“multi-million pound”) contract with British Sugar. It claimed at the time to be working with Nokia on “more than 15 different digital manufacturing use cases”. British Sugar has not said much since.
7 | Silvertown Tunnel / Ferrovial, London (2022)
Network supplier: Telent
Network vendor: Nokia
Network manager: Ferrovial
Spectrum band: n77 (3.8-4.2 GHz)
Spain-based transport infrastructure outfit Ferrovial has a private 5G network at Silvertown Tunnel, a new 1.4-kilometre twin-bore road tunnel under the Thames in East London. The tunnel is to open this year (2025), as the first under the Thames for 30 years. System integrator Telent handled the design and build of the network. The setup in East London uses 3.8-4.2 GHz (band n77) shared spectrum, as made available by UK regulator Ofcom. Ferrovial uses Nokia’s Digital Automation cloud (DAC) product in most of its 4G/5G installs. Ferrovial is handling management of the network. It was billed at the time as “one of the world’s first” private 5G SA networks” – and the UK’s “first in operation”. Applications have included environmental monitoring and “real-time visualisation of construction progress”. The network has been used as an innovation testbed, as well; it will presumably live on after construction stops and Ferrovial clears out.
8 | Moray East / Hornsea Two, North Sea / English Channel (2021/22)
Network supplier: Boldyn Networks
Network vendor: Athonet (HPE), Mavenir
Network manager: Boldyn Networks
Spectrum: tbc
Actually, two (or three) separate deals; the headline pairing are both handled by Boldyn Networks, which has supplied private LTE 94G) to both the Moray East wind farm off the coast of Scotland (2021) and the Hornsea Two wind farm, off the Yorkshire coast in England. The former was billed in 2021 as the first off-shore private LTE network of its kind. Mavenir delivered the radio (RAN) network; Athonet (HPE) delivered the core network. The latter, owned by Danish power company Ørsted, is also using Athonet, along with Boldyn and also Vodafone. The Moray East wind farm is projected to deliver approximately 40 percent of the total electricity demand in Scotland. Hornsea Two, meanwhile, is the largest offshore wind farm in the world. The third deployment to consider, here: Ørsted’s other site Hornsea One, also off the Yorkshire coast, has a private LTE network from Norwegian offshore communication network operator Tampnet.
9 | Western Power Distribution, South West / Midlands (2021)
Network supplier: Nokia
Network vendor: Nokia
Network manager: Nokia
Spectrum band: #87 (410-430MHz)
Western Power Distribution (WPD), which runs UK electricity distribution in the South West and Midlands regions in England, as well as in south Wales, has a private LTE (4G) network from Nokia to test various smart grid applications including for monitoring of power networks, distributed generation, grid automation, and surveillance cameras. Nokia has deployed the LTE version of its Modular Private Wireless (MPW) marco network. WPD said in 2021 it would upgrade to 5G in time, to cover sundry supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems for monitoring industrial processes and machines, including low-voltage power output, distributed generation, and automation. It is also testing cellular for ancillary “mission-critical” voice, video, and data services in the power grid. The setup includes licensed and unlicensed spectrum, plus microwave and fibre networks. It uses band 87 (410-430MHz).
10 | Port of Southampton / Associated British Ports, Hampshire (2021)
Network supplier: Verizon Business
Network vendor: Nokia
Network manager: Verizon Business
Spectrum band: n77 (3.8-4.2 GHz)
The one that got the UK all a-buzz about private 4G/5G networks in the first place – and the one, also, that showed a foreign operator could serve foreign enterprises on foreign shores, given spectrum has been liberalised by the local regulator. Associated British Ports (ABP), which owns and operates 21 ports in the UK, is working with US-based Verizon Business on a private 5G install at the Port of Southampton. ABP handles about a quarter of sea-borne trade in the UK. (It has a separate smart-port project with UK operator BT in Ipswich.) Nokia is the key vendor in the mix – again supplying its Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) product. The deployment is a “completely dedicated edge compute infrastructure”. A statement at the time declared Wi-Fi to be unfit for purpose. The new network will “address the immediate problem of loss of onsite data communications as a result of poor Wi-Fi connectivity”, it said. Standard smart-port cases have followed, presumably..
11 | City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear (2020)
Network supplier: Boldyn Networks
Network vendor: Mavenir / Airspan
Network manager: Boldyn Networks
Spectrum band: tbc
Boldyn Networks is leading a large and ambitious 4G/5G deployment in the city of Sunderland, which has been going since 2020 in various phases. An original tender at the time established a ‘strategic consortium’ and a “strategic delivery partner” for the project, to establish the country’s first city-owned ‘neutral host’ network for 5G and fibre. US network vendor Mavenir was originally recruited to provide the core and radio elements to “accelerate adoption” of digital services among the local manufacturing, logistics, education, and social care sectors. These include private 5G infrastructure for the likes of Nissan. Most recently, Airspan Networks was selected to supply the RAN infrastructure for the broader smart-city project in the UK.
12 | Ford, Bedfordshire / Cambridgeshire (2020)
Network supplier: Vodafone Business
Network vendor: Ericsson
Network manager: Vodafone Business
Spectrum band: 3.5 GHz (Vodafone)
Part of the UK government’s industrial 5G investment programme, Vodafone Business has a long-standing deal with automaker Ford for twin private 4G/5G networks at its plants in Dunton and Cambridge, in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire respectively. The original Dunton deployment is at the firm’s Electrified Powertrain in Manufacturing Engineering (E:PriME) facility, with a remit to deliver “real-time control, analysis and remote expert support, ensuring new manufacturing processes are shop floor-ready”. Specifically, Ford is using the network to connect welding machines used in production of electric vehicles; the automaker said approximately 1,000 welds are needed to put together batteries and motors used in electric vehicles; this equates to the creation of some 500,000 data points per minute. Vodafone said in these pages in 2021: “5G is just an enabler. There is no business case for 5G. There is a business case for all of the things it enables within the enterprises – whether that is Industry 4.0, or augmented reality and preventive maintenance via IoT sensors. All those things have a business case, but [the market] has to realise you can’t just put 5G network in and get a return; you need a plan for everything to launch off the back of it.” Wise words, a long time ago
13 | Belfast Harbour / Port of Belfast, Northern Ireland (2020)
Network supplier: BT
Network vendor: Ericsson
Network manager: BT
Spectrum: tbc
BT has a long-standing deal with Belfast Harbour, five years old, for a “5G ecosystem” within the Port of Belfast and the wider harbour area, stretching into the city itself (on public 5G). What started as a testbed in 2020 expanded as a commercial enterprise through 2021 and 2022, and remains the firm’s flagship private 5G project. The harbour commissioner said in 2022 it is the “foundation for several smart and green port initiatives”, including security cameras, air quality monitors, and drones. BT said in these pages in 2023: “We talk a lot about Belfast Harbour, which is not a wandering pony. It is a live example of the complexity of these solutions – which started as a proof of concept, essentially as a public network instance, which we then made into a private network. We are now enhancing further; we had eight use cases, and we are now focused on the ones that generate value, and talking to the harbour tenants about their value. It’s a journey, which has taken about three years.” The journey continues.
