Commercial Opportunities for Using Highways' Infrastructure to support 5G Mobile Connectivity - Feasibility Study

In the imminent future, DCMS plan to procure a single contract via the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Management Consultancy framework, Lot 7 Infrastructure, entitled 'Commercial Opportunities for Using Highways' Infrastructure to support 5G Mobile Connectivity - Feasibility Study' (reference 101062).

The contract is for provision of a flexible resource pool of skilled and experienced experts for the Feasibility Study.

The focus of the Feasibility Study is to assess which of the uses of a roadside cellular network will likely have the biggest benefit to operators and consumers and use this opportunity as a driver to fully explore and understand new commercial opportunities for road authorities and MNOs to work together and share infrastructure.

In doing so we aim to prove, in a commercial setting, new technology and business models that can support future demand and ensure we have "roadside networks fit for the future".

The Feasibility Study will undertake each of the work packages below: Work-stream 1 - Identify short/medium-term demand 1.

Identify digital demand based on those use cases likely to be of most benefit to, for example, motorists, passengers, the Telecoms industry, transport service providers, automotive manufacturers and road authorities and the associated benefits for these uses.

2.

Determine what the communication network requirements of these use cases are likely to be and, cruicially, MNO capacity, reliability, coverage, latency, bandwidth challenges to meet these requirements.

Work-stream 2 - Unlock new business models 3.

Determine available HE Infrastructure, its capacity and site access procedures.

4.

Determine and document the best approach to installation and maintenance of required digital infrastructure, including ensuring the safety of road users and technical staff is at least maintained at current levels and that impacts on road network performance are minimised.

5.

Consider the commercial models for sharing including, for example, wholesale infrastructure provision and radio access network (RAN) / sharing between MBNL and CTIL.

6.

Calculate the deployment and operational costs of using HE assets for roadside and macro cellular networks to a MNO, Wireless Infrastructure Providers (WIPs) and HE.

7.

Recommend and rank suitable locations, scope and scale for any follow-on Pilot (subject to findings from this feasibility study) to test the full range of network deployment challenges, including base station site identification and deployment costs, and to test short to mid-term use cases.

8.

Produce a detailed project plan and approach for a follow-on Pilot (subject to findings from this feasibility study).

Work-stream 3 - Identify and incentivise future-proofed roadside infrastructure 9.

Suggest ways to future-proof deployment to support potential 5G deployments.

10.

Should HE decide to build their own roadside network for driver assistance / safety-use cases then consider how this infrastructure can be used .