The Government has recently announced £65 million funding package for 5G trials. Blaenau Gwent is one of the projects to have been awarded £5 million for the Connected Communities in the Rural Economy (CoCoRE) project.
Cllr Dai Davies, Executive Member for Regeneration and Economic Development at Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, said:
“Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council welcomes this news. The CoCoRE project will demonstrate how 5G technology can improve and open up new opportunities for businesses and residents. Therefore, tackling rural isolation, improving farming security and supporting the tourism sector. We will be working together with our partners where we develop innovative and state of the art solutions to problems faced by our rural communities.
“The CoCoRE project is a collaborative approach that will be delivered by a number of partners including Monmouthshire County Borough Council and Cardiff University.
“The Council is seeing significant investment opportunities into the area through projects such as the Cardiff Capitol Region City Deal and Tech Valleys. And this project adds further opportunities to do business in the area and support economic growth. “
5G will greatly increase mobile capacity across Wales. There will be better speed in the transmissions and a lower latency. Therefore, greater capacity of remote connections and a greater number of connected devices. This will mean that people will be able to get online faster, download content quicker and transform the way we interact and deliver services.
It will bring other benefits beyond speed and remote connections. The combination of speed, responsiveness and reach could unlock the full capabilities of other trends in technology, offering a boost to self-driving cars, drones, virtual reality and internet of things (IoT).
Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart said:
The UK Government is committed to eliminating the difference in connection between urban and rural areas whilst exploring innovative ways to use 5G technology to develop emerging industries, supporting our rural economy in Wales.
Today’s announcement is a great opportunity for rural parts of Wales to boost the productivity and capacity of their digital infrastructure and forms a key part of our plans to build a UK which is fit for the future.
The £65 million funding has been separated into two categories:
• Winners of £35 million funding pot to help the UK unlock the potential of 5G
• £30 million 5G competition launched for sectors
Further information is available by clicking on the link below:
https://uk5g.org/5g-updates/read-articles/new-65-million-package-5g-trials/