Science park and rail link to get 5G networks

Oxfordshire County Council has been awarded £3.8m for the two schemes after entering a government competition

Two high-speed mobile coverage networks are set to be created for a science park and a new rail link.

Oxfordshire County Councils has been awarded £3.8m from the government to invest in the two 5G projects.

The money will be used to create a pilot 5G network on the East West Rail scheme between Bicester and Bletchley.

It will also see a private network created covering the entire 700 acres of Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Didcot.

A private 5G network is set to be built across the whole of Harwell Campus

The council has been awarded the pot of money through a government competition announced in July.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) offered a share of £40m for local and regional authorities across the UK to establish themselves as "5G innovation regions".

Oxfordshire County Council said it had led a joint funding bid on behalf of nine other councils - Buckinghamshire, all of Berkshire's unitary authorities, central Bedfordshire, and Cambridgeshire.

The county council said it would "now work closely with them on a 5G project called England's Connected Heartland".

Councillor Liz Leffman said: "We're committed to working with other local authorities and partners to maximise our chances of securing investment in digital connectivity and telecoms innovation."