Parallel Wireless confirmed it would expand its U.K.-based team
U.S. Open RAN (O-RAN) company Parallel Wireless said it has won the U.K.’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT)’s Open Network Competition (ONE) with its project AURA (Agile Universal Radio Architecture).
Parallel Wireless said this will enable the company to expand its U.K.-based team and develop new technologies that facilitate the rapid adoption of 5G.
The ONE competition is part of the government’s Open Networks R&D Fund, which delivers on the country’s £250 million ($306 million) 5G Telecoms Supply Chain Diversification Strategy through a range of telecoms R&D projects.
Parallel also noted that the competition aims to tackle barriers to adoption of mobile networks in the areas of High Demand Density (HDD) use cases, the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) and processors, RF and other RAN hardware.
Project AURA brings together a consortium including Parallel Wireless, Kandou Bus and British Telecom to design an integrated radio solution with an emphasis on flexibility to target different frequency bands and form factors, greater power efficiency and with the goal to manufacture the product in the U.K. at a competitive cost, Parallel Wireless said.
Parallel Wireless’ CEO Steve Papa said: ”DSIT’s commitment to accelerate telecoms innovation with the ONE Competition has inspired important new ideas from our world class research team in the U.K. Our project AURA will enable scalable manufacturing of telecoms equipment in the U.K., drive down costs for mobile operators to enable more O-RAN 5G deployments and reduce the significant Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions from operating wireless networks. We look forward to realizing these important innovations with DSIT’s assistance.”
”We are delighted that DSIT selected our project AURA as a winner of the ONE competition. The competition funding will help us and our partners grow our multidisciplinary U.K. teams to bring to market a significantly differentiated and highly innovative radio. Our vision is that this product will improve the energy efficiency of our customer’s networks whilst supporting the industrial strategy of the U.K.,” said Nicolas Scheidecker, head of UK R&D.
