Strategic Partner for the Sunderland Smart City 5G Neutral Host

Tender description

Sunderland City Council (SCC) has appointed 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 is for a period of 20 years. The PSP 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 PSP 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 PSP to continue to provide and enhance this service. SCC will be able to buy back data services from the PSP during the contract term and there will be opportunities for the PSP to offer the provision of private networks to industry, 3rd parties and SCC. Continues in II.2.4 below. Lot 1: The objective of the JV is to establish a 5G Neutral Host across the administrative area of SCC. 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. The estimated value of the concession is between £70m to £80m over the 20-year term. However, potential returns will depend on many commercial factors including (but not limited to) market conditions.