Photo L-R: Simon Saunders, who presented the Small Cell Forum award, Ian Vernon (AWTG Ltd), Michael Stevens (Connecting Cambridgeshire), David Mintah (AWTG Ltd) and Andrew Thomas (Benetel).

We’re proud to share that the Cambridgeshire Open RAN Ecosystem (CORE) project has won the “Outstanding Contribution to Emerging Technologies” award at the Small Cell Forum (SCF) Mobile Network Awards 2025!

Led by Connecting Cambridgeshire on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council, the CORE consortium brings together leading partners including AWTG (technical lead), Benetel, Gooii, Ontix, Wolfram, and the University of Surrey, with support from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

This prestigious national award recognises the successful delivery of the UK’s first city-centre pure Open RAN 5G network in Cambridge – a milestone project that has demonstrated the power of emerging technologies to transform urban connectivity.

From AI-powered automation to real-time Augmented Reality (AR) streaming, the CORE project has pushed the boundaries of mobile innovation, engaging local residents, schools, and businesses in a series of exciting real-world trials in February 2025.

SCF Mobile Network Awards Judges said: “The deployment of an Open RAN small cell network in Cambridge, the UK’s first in a city centre, is an important proof point for the technology in high density environments. AWTG’s SCAP SMO is crucial to the success of this network and to optimising its performance to support demanding applications such as live AR streaming.”

Congratulations to everyone involved!

Read more about the CORE project.