Project description
New platform for next-generation telecom networks
The next generation of telecom networks (fifth generation, or 5G) is here and it’s expanding worldwide. As one of the most critical building blocks of the digital economy and society, it offers faster speed and paves the way for a new Internet of things (IoT) ecosystem where billions of connected devices can be served. To unlock massive deployments and adoption, the EU-funded 5GaaS project will develop a decentralised marketplace for the telecom ecosystem. This new platform will ultimately enable the creation of a decentralised marketplace. Using blockchain technology, it will be able to connect the whole 5G value chain of stakeholders such as mobile network operators, site owners, system integrators, and hardware and software vendors.
Objective
Even though the potential of 5G technology is well known, having it massively deployed and available to end-users is not an easy task. To unlock all of 5G’s use cases at scale, smaller radio equipment and antennas (Small Cells) must be deployed in a dense manner across closer to end users. However, there is a catch: it is currently very difficult for MNOs to be able to deploy this equipment at scale, within public spaces. Thus, a major obstacle must be overcome to ultimately unlock massive deployments and adoption: a common platform connecting both Infrastructure Owners (such as, but not limited to, Municipalities) and entities which are in dire need of having proper licensing and authorisation to install new or exploit readyto-be-used 5G equipment, easing the process for site acquisition, asset and network management, in the most transparent and simple way.
5GaaS intends to develop and launch a new product in the form of a decentralised marketplace for the telecom ecosystem, under a new Joint Venture. This new platform is the culmination of three major components, two of them currently already available in the market : a centralised marketplace for site leasing and tenant management, from Ubiwhere, and dRAX, from Accelleran, an interoperable, standards-based and software-focused implementation of 5G networks. The other innovative component will come out of H2020 5GCity project, to which 5GaaS partners have collaboratively contributed to by building an automated 5G network slicing engine for Neutral Hosts. 5GaaS expands these layers, implementing a decentralised marketplace connecting the whole 5G value-chain of stakeholders such as MNOs, site owners, system integrators and hardware and software vendors, using blockchain technology.
During the project, the consortium will focus on pilot activities to showcase the benefits and capabilities of said platform, having it deployed across a total of 25 sites, in 5 different European cities.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
3800 075 Aveiro
Portugal
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.