Speeding up the roll-out of the 5G network

One major advantage of 5G is access to information and high-quality instant communication. In the UK, 5G coverage has reached over 50% of the population but this so far is largely constrained to outdoor areas in urban, commercial settings and mobile network carriers.

The cost of UK roll-out of 5G networks by 2025 could be an estimated £9 billion according to a 2022 Statista report, making the process a costly investment that is reflected in the current network providers’ installation and monthly subscription fees for 5G network services. This is why, despite the surge in remote working and the demand for faster and more reliable connectivity, as many as six million households are either unable to afford essential broadband services (The Money Edit, 2022) or continue to have restricted access to 5G. This disproportionately disadvantages lower-income households and those in rural areas.

VNTS is developing the world’s first combination of a 5G, Powerline (PLC) technology and Wireless (Wi-Fi) networking device, ‘NetPremise 5G’, that would speedup the roll-out of 5G network and deliverindoor access to 5G home broadband beginning with the UK, with the target of making it accessible and affordable to at least 1.1 million UK residences over the next five years.

NetPremise 5G is a 5GPLC and Wi-Fi plug-n-play connected device that delivers 5G/fibre broadband ‘Air Fibre’indoors at 4G costs across the UK. The device’s PLC integration transmits data at Gigabit speeds over the electrical cabling inside the building to ensure that strong Wi-Fi signals are available in every room without obstructions that cause Wi-Fi dead spots and slow speeds. Features like the analysis of users’ network in real time to predict, report and correct service downtime remotely using artificial intelligence (AI) and the integration of Mesh technology in conjunction with PLC to overcome Wi-Fi obstructions and retain signal strength over a wide coverage area while remaining affordable are what could give NetPremise 5G an edge in a competitive industry.

The importance of remote digital communication and information access was cemented by the 2020 COVID-19-related surge in data demand, with households continuing to require fast, efficient, and reliable internet services afterwards.Mobile data traffic in the UK rose from 315GB/month in 2019 to 453GB/month in 2021 (House of Commons ResearchBriefing,2022). The significant societal and economic gains associated with developing digital infrastructure to provide 5G coverage is the reason why VNTS upgraded its device from LTE to 5G.

VNTS is a networking solutions companythat aims at empowering people through connectivity by building secure platforms that will power the next generation of communication. Its focus includes developing hardware solutions to Last Mile broadband network access problems. The founders include UK-based ethnic African entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds and more than a decade's worth of experience in product development, electrical/telecoms engineering, business development, law, and industrial design across multiple continents.

In December 2020, VNTS exhibited the NetPremise LTE prototype and 3D printed design of NetPremise 5G at GITEX EXPO in Dubai, UAE and at the virtual CES 2021. The team have also participated in programs like the YC Startup School, GE Lagos Garage and Facebook Accelerator Nigeria in 2019 where it received a $20K grant used in developing an early LTE prototype of what would become NetPremise 5G and $100,000 AWS Cloud credits for its product development efforts.

The timing is right, and the opportunity is not only for the UK, its tech ecosystem, the quality of high-skilled jobs that can be created and the UK telecoms value chain, but also commercial opportunity in global markets. VNTS is a member of the Kollider Eagle Lab, NVIDIA Inception Program for Startups, Foundervine, UKTIN and recently was accepted into SetSquared Partnership programs.

Their mission is to develop product variants around broadband powerline technology because they have identified how they can apply technologies across identified verticals to meet market needs.

VNTS’ vision is to contribute to closing the ‘digital divide’ and promote digital inclusion in underserved regions around the world.