Telephone and data transmission services

Tender description

Sunderland City Council (SCC) is seeking a private sector partner (PSP) to co-invest in and form a Joint Venture (JV) to design, build and operate a 5G Neutral Host across the SCC boundary area and adjacent areas. The contract term will be for a period of 20 years. The PSP/JV will be required to recruit customers including Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to use the Neutral Host and stimulate demand for the use cases and their development. A range of street and network assets will be made available by SCC to the JV to deliver the scheme. SCC provides free public Wi-Fi in certain areas of the City Centre and Roker as well as a series of road sensors. SCC will require the JV to continue to provide and enhance this service. SCC will be able to buy back data services from the JV during the contract term and there will be opportunities for the JV to offer the provision of private networks to industry, 3rd parties and SCC. Continues in II.2.4 below. The objective of the JV is to achieve a ubiquitous 5G Neutral Host across the entire administrative area of SCC. Ubiquitous means high speed, low latency wireless communications with 99 % (by area) outdoor coverage and Low Power Wireless Access Network with 100 % coverage with indoor penetration. The initial deployment will be for the City Centre/Riverside Sunderland development. The JV will deliver 5G and strategic network infrastructure to accelerate the regeneration of Riverside Sunderland and City Centre. There are opportunities to takeover and expand the existing network at the Nissan site in Sunderland. Full details of SCC’s requirements are set out in the Specification, which is available via the NEPO portal at www.nepo.org (NEPO Reference: DN467791). The draft Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) will be released on the portal during the SQ return period and bidders should monitor the portal to check for its availability.