UK and South Korea team up for 5G trial

UK South kroea 5g
(Image credit: Pixabay) (Image credit: Pixabay)

A UK-led consortium is to trial 5G-powered ‘infotainment’ services in Scotland and South Korea as part of the latest government-funded pilot of next-generation network applications.

‘5G RailNext’, which includes Cisco, Soluis, Ampletime, the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow City Council will see how tourists and commuters can be provided with travel information, streaming and gaming services using Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) applications.

Once testing has been complete, the group will expand to the Glasgow Subway and are hoping to work with the London Underground and the New York Subway in the future.

5G RailFirst

The British and Korean governments will each provide £1.2 million in funding, with the UK money coming from the £200m 5G Testbed and Trials Programme. Cisco has already been a beneficiary of the fund, working with the BBC and others as part of a 5G rural connectivity project in Orkney, Shropshire and Somerset.

The partnership with South Korea is designed to drive Korean investment in the UK and provide opportunities for British firms in the Asian country.

“5G is the future of connectivity and we want the UK to be a world leader,” said Digital Minister Margot James. “This collaboration with South Korea will explore innovative ways to use the technology to deliver content and services on transport networks in Seoul and Glasgow.

“I'm delighted that this will create new partnership and business opportunities for UK SMEs, academia and local government."

EE and Vodafone have already launched 5G services in the UK, with Three set to go live in August and O2 before the end of 2019. It is hoped that the British startup ecosystem and research network will allow the UK to have significant influence on the development of 5G networks and applications across the world.

Steve McCaskill

Steve McCaskill is a former editor of Silicon UK, and is an experienced journalist. Over the last eight years Steve has written about technology, in particular, telecoms, mobile, sports tech, video games and media. 

Latest in Networking
5G ENCODE logo
Zeetta Networks, Airspan, and Druid slice private 5G networks for manufacturers
MediaTek
Keysight and MediaTek hit 5G speeds of 6Gbps thanks to Carrier Aggregation
Tecore
5G iCore Network-in-a-Box launched by Tecore in the US
Nokia
Nokia extends 5G RAN and Core solutions to Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia with A1
NEC 5G equipment.
MIMO and Massive MIMO explained
NEC announces new 5G massive MIMO
NEC announces new 5G massive MIMO radio units for Open RAN
Latest in News
Ericsson
5G is now available in Putrajaya, Cyberjaya and Kuala Lumpur
Apple
Apple’s iPhone SE 3 5G phone tipped to convert a billion Android phone users
Oppo
Meet the Oppo Find N foldable 5G phone
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners
Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners to acquire 5G innovator Dense Air
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
2G and 3G to be phased out by 2033 increasing the capacity of the UK’s 5G coverage
Image by Alexander Gresbek from Pixabay
Malaysia telcos call for a second 5G provider