The 5G research centre at the University of Surrey has received £35m funding from mobile operators, infrastructure providers and the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund to carry out research on 5G mobile communication technology.
The funding will be used to construct a 5G Innovation Centre that will research on new communication technology which is claimed to revolutionise mobile and internet access in the UK.
About £11.6m will be contributed by the UK government from the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, £24m will come from a mobile industry consortium which include Huawei, Samsung, Telefonica, Fujitsu Laboratories, Rohde & Schwarz and AIRCOM International.
The innovation centre is also expected to boost UK telecommunication research, development, innovation and the broadband mobile internet services offerings in addition to maximised downstream profits for economic growth.
University of Surrey professor Rahim Tafazolli said there are massive challenges and opportunities encountering the sector.
‘The global telecommunications industry, valued at $2.1 trillion per annum, is already responsible for 6% of world GDP," Tafazolli said.
"Mobile communications data traffic is expected to increase 1,000 fold by 2020, by which time there will be an estimated at least 50 billion Internet-capable devices
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‘The growth in the number of new applications running on the networks is accelerating, as ever more mobile devices become the preferred route for Internet access."
The Surrey University is also supporting the UK Government’s move to achieve a 10% share of the global satellite applications market, valued about £40bn by 2030.
The new 5G Centre is also claimed to draw international telecoms giants to perform research and development on new 5G standards in the UK, while connecting to the new satellite communications enhancements and to the Connected Digital Economy initiative ofthe UK government.
University of Surrey president and vice-chancellor professor Sir Christopher Snowden said the new 5G Centre will enable the UK to lead the expanding segment of the global digital economy.
"Locally, it will bring yet more momentum to the already significant growth in the clusters of established and new high tech businesses on our Surrey Research Park," Snowden said.
"Finally, and very significantly for us, it consolidates the leading position of our own Centre for Communication Systems Research in Europe and paves the way for the further development of our long-term strategic partnerships with major global telecommunications organisations and significant inward investment into both Surrey and the UK."
