Virgin Media O2 and Accenture (NYSE: ACN) have today announced a new collaboration to seize opportunities in the UK’s growing mobile private network market estimated to reach £528M by 2030*.

Virgin Media O2’s 5G private network capabilities for UK businesses will be augmented by Accenture’s expertise in helping enterprises realise the potential of 5G with a broad set of applications for multiple industry segments – including computer vision artificial intelligence for product quality control monitoring of equipment to meet factory floor compliance requirements and queue management systems to improve customer experiences.

The solutions are built on Accenture’s Edge Orchestration Platform and will incorporate edge computing, data and AI, and embedded cybersecurity focusing initially on the construction, transportation and logistics, manufacturing, utilities, warehousing and sports venue sectors. Liberty Global, the joint owner of Virgin Media O2 alongside Telefónica, is also exploring opportunities for these solutions in other geographic markets outside of the UK. The collaboration will scale up in the coming months as joint customer implementations begin to be deployed.

Mobile private networks can also underpin use cases across other industries. In the summer of 2022, for example, Virgin Media O2 Business helped activate the UK’s first 5G-connected hospital with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to support mission-critical hospital activity. Access to a private mobile network improved clinician workflow, efficient patient record management, monitoring of smart medicine storage and seamless integration of diverse connected devices.

Jo Bertram, Managing Director of Business and Wholesale at Virgin Media O2, said: “Building on Virgin Media O2’s established expertise in deploying mobile private networks, this new partnership with Accenture leverages their industry-specific knowledge and proven digital platform and solutions to help broaden our offering to businesses. From facilitating safe communication on construction sites to powering critical devices in hospitals, businesses across a range of sectors will have access to a one-stop shop of innovative, adaptive and secure mobile private network solutions.”

Andy Tay, Global Lead at Accenture Cloud First, said: “Enterprises need to reinvent their networks to become agile and competitive, and it starts with access to reliable and secure mobile connectivity. This enables companies to build a strong digital core that uses the power of cloud, data, artificial intelligence and other technologies alongside new ways of working – ultimately helping them to optimise operations, drive growth, and reach new levels of performance.”

About Virgin Media O2

Virgin Media O2 launched on 1 June 2021, combining the UK’s largest and most reliable mobile network with a fully gigabit broadband network where customers benefit from average speeds 5x faster than the national average. Through Virgin Media O2 Business, the company plays a leading role supporting entrepreneurs, businesses, enterprises and the public sector with their digital transformation through a range of connectivity, security, cloud and tailor-made services. Virgin Media O2 is the corporate brand of the 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica SA, and one of the UK’s largest businesses.

The company has more than 46 million UK connections across its award-winning broadband, mobile, TV and home phone services. Its fixed network covers more than half of the country (17m homes serviceable) alongside a mobile network that covers 99% of the nation’s population. The company is on track to bring 5G to all populated areas by end 2030, and offers more than 50% population 5G coverage today.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 742,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

Notes to editors

*STL Partners forecasts that the UK specific market is projected to reach approximately £528M by 2030. This estimation is based on a global private networks market forecast, which anticipates the total addressable market to reach $21 billion by 2030.

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