Verizon Business and Thames Freeport announced the completion of a multisite Private 5G platform across the Thames Freeport economic corridor, part of a multiyear, multibillion dollar operational transformation and economic revival for the region.
The Private 5G implementation establishes a unified, industrial-grade wireless connectivity foundation for several economically critical port, logistics, and manufacturing environments at one of the busiest maritime shipping hubs in the United Kingdom.
About the deployment
The deployment spans five separate locations across the Thames Freeport district, each a private and independently operating tenant of the hub with distinct use cases for Private 5G technology. Each tenant network operates on an independent network core for complete data sovereignty.
By connecting multiple industrial environments on a secure, unified platform, Thames Freeport offers its tenants built-in infrastructure for developing and scaling connected capabilities such as physical AI, computer vision, real-time asset tracking, connected-worker/worker-safety applications, predictive maintenance, edge-computing, AI-powered real-time autonomous operations and operational intelligence, and more, as individual site priorities dictate.
Nokia Enterprise Campus Edge, currently subject to a planned sale to AURELIUS, is the exclusive hardware and software provider for the networks, which incorporate the Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) platform and Nokia MX Industrial Edge (MXIE).
Private 5G use cases
Thames Freeport’s Connectivity Innovation Lab has brought technology providers together with the Freeport’s partner sites to test and validate potential use cases for the networks, particularly in the areas of maintenance and efficiency, tracking and monitoring, and health, safety, and security. The first trials have completed or are in progress for the following uses:
A second phase of trials will cover ports and logistics use cases. Users have identified the following areas to investigate for Private 5G-driven solutions:
Infrastructure to fuel industrial growth
The Thames Freeport is a designated UK “Free Trade Zone,” established to boost economic growth, create high-value jobs and attract global investment as part of a long-term effort to revive the UK’s River Thames Estuary region.
Thames Freeport has already helped create more than 1,400 jobs and secured over £2.13 billion of private investment since 2021. A further 1,290 people are employed across the tax sites, with 2,548 additional jobs in the confirmed pipeline. Through its long-term Growth Plan, it aims to attract up to £4.9 billion of additional investment, double the region’s trade capacity, and support up to 28,000 jobs by 2045, with a strong focus on skills, training and opportunities for local communities.
As part of this redevelopment effort, Verizon Private 5G Networks provide essential technology infrastructure that is fundamental to daily operations and long-term growth as operations, workforces, and port traffic continue to grow in complexity and scale. In addition to enabling digital applications and capabilities, reliable wireless connectivity also facilitates the capture and transport of data, the connectivity of people and machines across physically and technologically complex industrial sites, and the movement of technological innovations from controlled trials into daily operations.
Robb Juliano, Vice President of 5G Acceleration, Verizon Business
The implementation at Thames Freeport is a perfect reference point for the versatility and scalability of private 5G across complex industrial sites: One commercial hub, five individual sites with unique needs, and a multitude of connected use cases. Together with Thames Freeport, we’re creating a digital foundation for automation, physical AI, and future industrial growth to revitalize an entire economic region. Similar enterprises hosting multiple sites with complex and evolving needs—especially as physical AI redefines industrial operations—can lay the same private 5G foundation from which to build their own transformations.
Tom White, Innovation and Skills Director, Thames Freeport
This deployment gives our key sites a platform to innovate together while continuing to meet the realities of live industrial operations. It strengthens Thames Freeport’s ability to help businesses test, adopt and scale new technologies and helps us attract investment, accelerate innovation, and create high-value jobs.
