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Digital Catapult has admitted six international Open RAN vendors to the next phase of its advanced connectivity programme, aiming to accelerate trials and commercial deployment of Open RAN in the UK
The organisations – Accelleran, Antevia Networks, Benetel, G REIGNS, IS‑Wireless, and Pegatron 5G – will use Digital Catapult’s SONIC Labs for interoperability and end‑to‑end testing.
The facility, backed by Ofcom and funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), has previously tested 71 Open RAN products from 26 vendors.
Digital Catapult says the programme is intended to broaden supplier pipelines for mobile operators and to help smaller vendors scale by providing technical validation, market‑readiness support and commercial guidance. Participating vendors can achieve Interoperability (IOT) and End‑to‑End (E2E) badges that can certify readiness and reduce integration risk for operators.
The incoming cohort brings a mix of radio units and disaggregated software components. Accelleran and Antevia will contribute centralised and distributed units (CU/DU) for fronthaul interoperability trials; Benetel and Pegatron will supply indoor radio units; IS‑Wireless will provide a CU and parts of the DU layer for full E2E testing; and G REIGNS will present CU and DU elements for private network scenarios.
Telecoms Minister Liz Lloyd said the programme would help “tackle poor connectivity challenges, diversify our telecoms supply chains and support economic growth.” Digital Catapult’s chief technology officer, Joe Butler, highlighted the facility’s role as the UK’s only Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC) and said testing and badging would help reduce integration complexity.
Open RAN, which separates hardware and software components in mobile networks to encourage multi‑vendor ecosystems, has been promoted by UK government policy as a means to increase supply chain resilience and competition. In fact, it has previously set targets of 35% of the UK’s network traffic to be carried over Open RAN by 2030.
However, deployment has faced technical and commercial hurdles, including interoperability, performance parity with incumbent vendor solutions, and the cost and complexity of integrating disaggregated components at scale. Vodafone is currently the only mobile operator in the UK to use Open RAN tech in its commercial network, aiming for 2,500 sites by 2027.
Industry observers say testbeds and independent validation can address some of the barriers by demonstrating real‑world performance and simplifying operator procurement. Yet scaling Open RAN into large public networks will require sustained operator investment, mature software stacks, and robust supply chains.
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