The Chamber is leading the campaign to make the case for the Aberdeen city region to be designated as a pilot area for the roll out of full 5G coverage.
Aberdeen City Council will submit a proposal to the Department for Digital, Cultural, Media and Sport (DCMS) for funding from the Urban Connected Communities Project as part of its 5G Testbed and Trials Programme.
The project is to design wireless infrastructure in a major city of more than 500,000 that delivers high quality connectivity, while enabling applications running on 5G to be trialled in parallel. DCMS says the scheme is also open to cities with populations below 500,000, if they have strong, clear digital vision and leadership.
Digital connectivity is one of the six key project areas which make up the City Region Deal. The Chamber has worked closely with the city council in recent years to highlight the importance of digital connectivity from both a business and community perspective; and bring stakeholders together to progress the joint vision.
Chamber chief executive Russell Borthwick said: “The award of funding to participate in this initiative will pave the way to deliver a step change in the availability and affordability of world-class infrastructure and services in the region enabling us to deliver our economic strategy and renaissance region vision.”
