SCONDA
The Small Cells ORAN in Dense Areas (SCONDA) project is a cutting-edge collaboration funded by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Spearheaded by AWTG as the Consortium Lead Partner, SCONDA brings together a powerful coalition of operators, technology vendors, academic institutions, and innovation hubs to develop, trial, and deploy intelligent Open RAN small cell networks. The goal is to demonstrate how open, programmable, and analytics-enhanced small cell architectures can enhance mobile coverage, improve cost-efficiency, and enable smart, localised decision-making in both urban and rural contexts.
Project Partners
SCONDA has made a significant contribution to the UK’s Open RAN and small cell landscape, validating real-world deployments and AI-driven network intelligence. The lessons learned from SCONDA will inform ongoing network disaggregation efforts, support the UK’s diversification strategy, and help shape standards for next-generation radio access networks. It also highlights the importance of multi-partner collaboration in driving meaningful telecom innovation.
Project Status
As of September 2025, the SCONDA project officially concluded with a consortium closure event held at VodafoneThree’s headquarters. The project successfully deployed Open RAN-enabled small cells in live environments, validating interoperability and performance across multi-vendor components. It also implemented AI-powered network data analytics, delivering predictive insights and intelligent network optimisation that enhance efficiency and reliability.
In its final phase, SCONDA demonstrated dynamic spectrum sharing and traffic steering capabilities aligned with the next evolution of 5G networks. The consortium also contributed to Open RAN standardisation efforts through active collaboration with 3GPP, the Small Cell Forum, and other global industry bodies—strengthening the foundation for scalable, flexible, and future-ready small cell deployments.
Delivering Impact
In its final phase, SCONDA demonstrated dynamic spectrum sharing and traffic steering capabilities aligned with the next evolution of 5G networks. The consortium also contributed to Open RAN standardisation efforts through active collaboration with 3GPP, the Small Cell Forum, and other global industry bodies strengthening the foundation for scalable, flexible, and future-ready small cell deployments.
