News
BT Collaborates with Qualcomm to Support 5G Lab Facilities in the UK
BT Group has partnered with Qualcomm to establish 5G lab facilities in Farnborough, United Kingdom. These labs will enable BT and Qualcomm to test and validate new 5G technologies in a live environment, facilitating faster deployment and commercialization of next-generation 5G features and services. This collaboration builds on their decade-long partnership, during which Qualcomm has actively worked with BT’s mobile labs in Borehamwood and Bristol.
Naveen Khapali, BT Group’s senior manager of device technology, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating that the partnership with Qualcomm in the embedded 5G lab will bring the benefits of closer collaboration and accelerate the introduction of advanced technology to BT’s customers.
Vikrant Jain, the business development director for Qualcomm Technologies International, highlighted the importance of their long-standing partnership and expressed gratitude to BT for their support in advancing innovation.
Apart from their collaboration with Qualcomm, BT has also participated in various government-funded labs and testbeds, such as the Worcestershire 5G testbed. The UK Government’s Wireless Infrastructure Strategy has allocated a £40 million fund to create 5G Innovation Regions, driving the adoption of 5G in businesses and the public sector. The strategy also looks to the future by establishing a 6G strategy and providing up to £100 million in R&D funding for future telecoms technologies.
The UK currently has at least six 5G interoperability testing labs, catering to different organizations with varying levels of accessibility. However, notable labs by vendors like Nokia’s London lab with CGI are not included in the official list.
In a separate announcement, BT revealed a seven-year renewal deal with National Air Traffic Services (NATS) to consolidate and modernize NATS’ critical data network. BT will also manage digital networking and cyber security across NATS’ sites, developing an enhanced cyber security capability and proactive central coordination point for cyber resilience. NATS, responsible for managing air traffic services across various UK airports, has been partnered with BT since 2004.
This partnership will ensure the provision of a world-class digital infrastructure to support the future of air traffic management.
The post BT Collaborates with Qualcomm to Support 5G Lab Facilities in the UK appeared first on satProviders.