The CORE HDD consortium, with AWTG as technical lead, has won the Outstanding Contribution to Emerging Technology award at the Small Cell Forum (SCF) Awards 2025, held during the Small Cells World Summit in London.
L-R: Metti Jab, Cristina Delgado Gomez, Michael Stevens, David Mintah, Ian Vernon, Anjali Nair, Chidi Ohiagbaji, Desmond Nwanugo
Led by Cambridgeshire County Council’s digital connectivity programme Connecting Cambridgeshire and supported by partners including Benetel, Gooii, Ontix, Wolfram, the University of Surrey, and working closely with the University of Cambridge and Cambridge City Council, the project showcased the UK’s first city-centre Open RAN deployment. The network integrated multi-vendor 5G, AI-powered automation, and live AR streaming — highlighting a future-ready model for high-demand urban environments.
AWTG played a central role in the network’s engineering and delivery, demonstrating how collaborative innovation can unlock scalable, vendor-agnostic solutions that meet real-world public and private sector needs. The recognition from SCF underscores CORE HDD’s significance in driving forward open, interoperable, and intelligent 5G infrastructure.
Judges’ Quote:
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.
AWTG COO, Ian Vernon Quote:
We’re incredibly proud to be part of the CORE HDD consortium and honoured to receive this recognition from the Small Cell Forum at the Small Cell World Summit. As the technical lead and main delivery partner, this award reflects AWTG’s commitment to engineering excellence and real-world delivery. It’s a testament to what’s possible when innovative engineering, open collaboration, and public sector leadership come together. At AWTG, we remain focused on advancing innovations in 5G Open RAN and future-ready networks that drive meaningful impact.
View all winners here: https://www.smallcellforum.org/awards-2025/