Net AI selected by Digital Catapult to support trusted Telecom AI adoption in national critical infrastructure

Net AI has been selected to contribute an Energy Efficiency application to Digital Catapult’s Assured 5G Technical Authority (A5G-TA) programme.

A5G-TA is part of Innovate UK’s wider work to support the development and adoption of next-generation connectivity technologies across the UK economy. Led by Digital Catapult, the programme will create a vendor-neutral assurance capability for Stand-alone Non-Public Networks, helping organisations understand whether private 5G and AI-native telecoms systems are ready to be deployed in critical infrastructure.

The project will also create an AI Network Data Catalogue with openly accessible network energy and operational datasets. This will give UK innovators a stronger data foundation for trusted Telecom AI, reducing reliance on closed, external datasets and supporting more sovereign capability in the UK.

Alongside this, A5G-TA will develop practical methods for assessing whether AI-enabled network operations are trustworthy, explainable, and safe to use without creating new risks for service quality or performance.

Net AI’s contribution will focus on energy efficiency, one of the clearest and most urgent use cases for AI in telecoms. The company will deploy an Energy Efficiency xApp designed to support more efficient use of radio network resources, while ensuring that any energy-saving decision can be evaluated against its impact on quality of service.

This is particularly important in radio access networks, where reducing energy consumption is not simply a matter of switching resources off. Traffic demand changes throughout the day, decisions can affect neighbouring cells, and any efficiency gain has to be balanced against service reliability. The xApp will support A5G-TA’s wider work by providing a practical benchmark for assessing AI-enabled energy-efficiency applications, including how much energy is saved, whether service quality is affected, and how explainable the decision-making process is.

Net AI has previously worked with Digital Catapult through the Technology Access Programme, using the SONIC Labs Open RAN testbed to validate an energy-saving application in a realistic network environment. That experience provides a useful foundation for this new collaboration, which will contribute to A5G-TA’s broader goal of building confidence in trusted, vendor-neutral assurance for AI-native telecoms.

Alexis Duque, Net AI’s VP of Engineering, said: Artificial intelligence offers a clear path to reducing telco network energy consumption, but it requires reliability to ensure live service quality remains safe and unaffected. Through the A5G-TA project, we are deploying open testing capabilities and energy-saving solutions within the UK, leveraging years of experience in this field. Net AI is committed to this sovereign approach because it ensures the industry is not dependent on closed datasets, creating a transparent and reliable foundation for trustworthy AI enabling network automation.

Dritan Kaleshi, Director of Technology — Future Networks & Digital Infrastructure, at Digital Catapult said: “The collaboration with Net AI demonstrates how trusted, vendor-neutral assurance can help turn the potential of AI-native telecoms into practical applications for critical infrastructure. Energy efficiency is an important use case, but organisations need confidence that AI-driven decisions can deliver these benefits without compromising network performance, reliability or service quality. By combining real-world testing with open network data and independent assurance, A5G-TA is helping create the evidence and confidence needed for responsible adoption of these technologies across the UK. This work will also contribute to a stronger sovereign foundation for the development and deployment of trusted Telecom AI.”

By supporting independent, vendor-neutral assurance for private 5G and AI-native telecoms networks, this collaboration will help build confidence in how AI is adopted across critical infrastructure. Net AI is proud to contribute to work that will make high-quality network data more accessible for future UK innovation and strengthen the sovereign capability needed to develop trusted Telecom AI.