Black Founders Programme
The Black Founders Programme is targeted at early stage and pre-seed, Black-founded companies creating innovative products and services for the...
Open networks have long been seen as the answer to the UK’s telecoms supply chain problem. But for years, the evidence to support that claim was fragmented, vendor-specific, or simply missing. The Digital Catapult’s SONIC Labs programme was set up to change that.
Delivered in partnership by Digital Catapult and Ofcom, and funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the SONIC Labs programme spent four years generating the kind of independent, engineering-led evidence that the UK’s transition to open, multi-vendor networks actually needs. Across 82 product tests, seven interoperability cohorts, and engagements with 27 vendors from 15 countries, the programme created a trusted, commercially neutral environment where the real-world performance of Open RAN technology could be tested, challenged, and validated at scale.
The results go well beyond the technical. Vendors advanced by at least one Technology Readiness Level (TRL) within six to nine months of participation. 72% reported new commercial partnerships, sales or leads. 85% initiated new Open RAN product development as a direct result of their involvement. And through its designation as the UK’s first and only Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC), the SONIC Labs established a nationally significant capability with genuine international standing.
This report is the full account of what the programme achieved, what it learned, and what it means for the future of open and intelligent networks in the UK. It covers the strategic context that made the SONIC Labs necessary, the technical and commercial outcomes it delivered, and the forward-looking priorities that will shape the next phase of open network development, including AI-native architectures, advanced connectivity, and the government’s ambition to have 35% of UK mobile network traffic running on open and interoperable infrastructure by 2030.
Whether you work in network deployment, supply chain strategy, policy, regulation, or investment in UK digital infrastructure, this report is relevant to decisions being made right now about the future of telecoms.