Huawei selected to build Cambridge Wireless private 5G testbed

Telecoms research community Cambridge Wireless has refused to bow to UK political consensus by partnering with Huawei for its latest 5G venture.

They will build a private 5G network at the Cambridge Science Park, which is owned by Cambridge University. The purpose of it is to provide a test environment for the CW community to muck about with things like autonomous vehicles, clean energy and remote surgery, as augmented by 5G technology.

“We are constantly working to provide value to CW members,” said Simon Mead, CEO of CW. “As home to one of the world’s most advanced R&D ecosystems, Cambridge is perfectly positioned for the rollout of next-generation wireless technology and we’re delighted to be driving this initiative with our partners.

“We hope to bring something unique to the Science Park to accelerate use cases and development of this technology. We invite ambitious businesses to get involved and through this exciting 3-year partnership with Huawei, we will support their 5G innovation journey.”

“The Cambridge eco-system is recognised as a global leader in technology and we are excited to work with the talent and vision in this eco-system,” said Huawei Vice-President Victor Zhang. “We hope to enable Cambridge Wireless members to reach new heights by allowing them access to our state-of-the-art equipment and markets including China and beyond. Our commitment to the UK and industry remains as strong as ever and we will continue to offer our expertise and technology to our partners to promote connections and innovation.”

As the last part of Zhang’s comment confirms, there is a political element to this move. It enables Huawei to make statements like the above and to make it clear that it doesn’t require the government’s position to retain some role in the UK 5G market. Additionally the Cambridge Wireless community seems to be signalling that it doesn’t share the UK government’s Huawei concerns about security and claimed ties to the Chinese state.