Verizon Communications Inc. won a contract to erect and operate a private 5G network in Southampton, England (United Kingdom), for Associated British Ports Holdings, its first industrial 5G award in Europe.  The #1 U.S. wireless telco beat out local telecommunications companies and is jump starts a push to sell the wireless systems to global businesses.

• Verizon teams up with Nokia to offer private 5G capabilities to enterprises in Europe and Asia-Pacific
• Private 5G will enable organizations to deliver mission critical and real-time capabilities
• Announcement marks Verizon’s continued investment in 5G and network-as-a-service strategy

A private 5G network is a self-contained network whose components all reside in a single facility, consisting of micro towers and small cells and connects to an organization’s Local Area Network (LAN) and enterprise applications. It will utilize Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud, a private wireless network solution with automation enablers that will allow for application deployment through a web-based interface.

New York-based Verizon opened a showroom in London last year and spoke about its hopes to muscle in on 5G enterprise deals beyond the U.S. It’s a sign competition is heating up in the segment, seen as a key way to fuel growth in the otherwise stagnant telecommunications sector for local carriers like Newbury, England-based Vodafone Group Plc.

“We chose Verizon simply just due to the track record within setting up private 5G networks,” said Henrik Pedersen, chief executive officer of ABP, in a video call with Bloomberg. “Regional or local, I don’t see it like this. I see 5G as a global thing.”

Southampton is a crucial British terminal which usually handles about 900,000 cars and sees millions of cruise ship passengers per year. It’s upgrading its network as the port adapts to its new status as a freeport, one of several low-tariff business zones on the British coast that U.K. chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled last month as part of his plans to stimulate post-Brexit trade.

Verizon’s 5G network will remove dead spots and increase bandwidth at the port, ultimately enabling new systems, such as using drones that can transmit high-definition video for maintenance checks, and sending live shipping data, Pedersen said.

“There’ll be a lot of need for data transfer in the future in the freeport zone, and especially when you start to move goods in and out of the customs zones,” said Pedersen. He said he wants the system up and running by July, and added that more of ABP’s 21 ports are likely to get 5G networks in the future.

“Today, we’ve announced the next phase of Verizon’s global 5G vision with the launch of private 5G for our international customers,” said Tami Erwin, CEO, Verizon Business. “If the past few months have taught us anything, it’s that there’s never been a more critical time for mobility, broadband and cloud products and services. Private 5G networks will be a transformative technology that will drive the new era of disruption and innovation for enterprises around the world.”

“Private wireless connectivity has become central to many industries in realizing their long-term digital transformation goals. By delivering private 5G together with Verizon, we’re paving the way to accelerate digitalization for the most demanding industries who crave reliable wireless connectivity,” said Brian R. Fitzgerald, SVP Global Solutions at Nokia.

“We’re seeing international markets moving rapidly to deploy 5G Private Networks, which appears as a major use case for the uptake of 5G, particularly in order to capitalize on 5G investments in the enterprise market.  With the ingredients of an early mover go-to-market 5G-know-how, foundational enterprise networking and innovative 5G enabled services Verizon’s go-to-market recipe with Nokia will be an attractive solution to the broader market,” said Martina Kurth, associate vice president of IDC’s European Telco Research practice.

Today’s announcement follows recent MEC partnership announcements with  Microsoft,  Cisco,  IBM and AWS. In August, Verizon recently announced its successful completion of lab trials with Corning and Samsung on its new 5G mmWave in-building solutions.

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References:

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/verizon-business-takes-private-5g-global

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/verizon-beats-out-european-carriers-to-run-5g-at-u-k-freeport-1.1585233