Cisco and it's partners aim to create a UK government funded complete end-to-end rural 5G testbed system for trials of new wireless and networking technologies, spectrum sharing, new applications and services with a focus on testing and demonstrating approaches for ensuring that 5G connectivity is accessible and affordable in hard-to-reach rural areas. 

Testbeds and trials for the project will primarily be based on the Orkney islands to the very north of Scotland, and the farmlands of Somerset and Shropshire. The locations will be linked to the distributed Cisco 5G cloud platform at DataVita’s Tier III data centre facility near Glasgow and will collaborate with the wider 5G UK ecosystem with the University of Surrey 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC).

Cisco will lead the project RuralFirst which also includes principal partner the University of Strathclyde, the network of 32 organizations. 

The project will look to support and inform the development of the UK's 5G eco-system so that it is able to address the needs and aspirations of communities and businesses in rural locations in ways that 4G, 3G, and 2G have not been able to do. 

Key use cases include Broadcast radio delivered over 5G with the BBC; Smart farming in partnership with Agri-EPI Centre; IoT in Utilities and Environment Management; Dynamic Shared Spectrum development and trial.