Telefonica lined up to test a new approach to private 5G networks being developed by a Telecom Infra Project (TIP) working group formed this week, which the research outfit claimed would deliver improved economics and flexibility over traditional approaches.

Juan Carlos Garcia, SVP of technology innovation and ecosystem at Telefonica and TIP board director, stated the project would help operators “address the exciting opportunities that 5G is creating in the enterprise segment, both through valuable features for our customers and more efficient network operations”.

TIP said the 5G Private Network Solutions Group was established to tackle weaknesses in the economics and operational flexibilty of traditional network architectures in enterprise scenarios.

The group will create an open, cloud-native architecture for private 5G networks, incorporating elements of a Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery Deployment (CI/CD) platform previously created by TIP’s OpenRAN project group.

Telefonica will conduct laboratory tests of the working group’s system at its TIP Community Lab in Madrid before field tests in Malaga.

Key goals for the project include delivery of high-performance 5G connectivity and edge computing infrastructure covering multiple enterprise verticals; improved network economics through the use of commoditised hardware, open source software and automation; and better network security.

Private networks have been a hot topic of late: at MWC Shanghai last month, Nokia president and CEO Pekka Lundmark tipped spending to exceed traditional public networks in the next decade, citing “huge appetite” from industry.