First live 5G service in the Isle of Man launched

Mast site is on Carnane

The first live 5G service has been launched here on the Isle of Man.

The launch of Bluewave 5G was revealed at a recent Northern Powerhouse event hosted by the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce.

Marking the announcement, Professor Adam Beaumont, founder and chair of aql and Trustee of Eden Project Morecambe visited the mast site on Carnane, accompanied by Isle of Man Chief Minister Alfred Cannan and MP for Morecambe, David Morris.

Investment from the company Bluewave, has built on-island mast and fibre infrastructure, along with creating terabits of connectivity capacity off-island, connecting to Leeds, Manchester and London.

The 5G network also extends into the Irish Sea towards Morecambe, enabling monitoring of the marine environment to provide real-time data to the scientific community to be used as part of Eden Project Morecambe. 

The Chief Minister said: “I am delighted that Bluewave have invested in a 5G network on the Isle of Man.  The network has the potential to unlock many partnerships, such as potentially creating digital twinning of our whole-island UNESCO Biosphere with the Eden projects in Cornwall and soon in Morecambe.  It can also support the growing need to connect the Internet of Things, which will bring future benefits for both the public and private sectors on the Isle of Man.”

Professor Adam Beaumont added: “It was fitting that both David Morris and the Chief Minister could celebrate the launch of the first live commercial 5G service on the Isle of Man: David has been an unwavering supporter of Eden Morecambe and Alf has been a tireless campaigner for building a digital Isle of Man. My vision since acquiring Bluewave was to bring down the cost of data connectivity on the island to the same as the major internet cities - Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London.  We’re on track to delivering this and the infrastructure to make the island a natural home for digital business.”