Market Testing Exercise - 5G Living Lab - Provision of 5G Network and Connectivity Basingstoke

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council would like to establish a 5G Living Lab in Basing View, Basingstoke's central business district, and is interested in working with industry partners to jointly develop and implement the project. This prior information notice aims to test the market and assess whether there is interest from the private sector in working in partnership with the council to deliver the project. The council's ambition is to create a comprehensive 5G ecosystem focused on commercialisation where businesses will be able to access 5G connectivity to develop, trial and bring to market new products, services and applications. The project is supported by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership and the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre. To enable the delivery of this vision, the council is looking to work with industry partners to design and build a 5G network providing indoor and outdoor connectivity in Basing View and deploy 5G services including a core network within one building at the eastern end of the park, outside to the extent of Lower Basing View and to selected rooms within nearby buildings via rooftop, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) distribution (locations to be confirmed). The detailed technical requirements and specifications would be developed in partnership with private sector partners. The project would be on a public/private partnership basis aiming to achieve mutual benefit and funded by direct investment from the public and private sector where partners invest 50% each in the project. Please note the contract value of £2.5 million is based upon a total estimate with 50% public sector funding of up to £1.26million, the remained to be funded privately. The 5G infrastructure will be complemented by business incubation and acceleration support, technical expertise and AR and VR facilities. Please note that this element of the project will be subject to a separate procurement exercise. This project is seen as the start of Basingstoke's 5G journey. The town is expected to see significant growth over the next five to ten years, which could open up further potential opportunities for public/private partnership working subject to relevant suitable, future procurement exercises. This includes Manydown, a large housing development west of the town, that will see 3500 new homes in its first phase, the redevelopment of its existing Leisure Park into an experiential leisure destination, a new hospital and health campus, a redevelopment of its town centre and further large commercial developments. Basingstoke is also part of Gigabit Town & Rural project. Led by the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise partnership, the project will deploy gigabit-capable fibre connecting Basingstoke to the 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey in Guildford and will provide a step change in the region's digital connectivity. The project could act as a demonstrator for industry partners to showcase technology, expertise and development capabilities and could also help foster innovation by providing a range of use cases including smart city and Internet of Things applications, immersive retail and leisure, AR and VR, mobility and transport and digital health. Through its strong focus on commercialisation and business engagement, the project can also give access to innovative start ups and businesses helping to develop further 5G innovation and capabilities.