Policy & standards
Deployment is the visible half of neutral host. The half that decides whether it scales is standards compliance, planning practice and security assurance — the work below is what makes a shared site acceptable to an MNO, a council and a regulator at the same time.
NHN developed a Multi Operator Core Network (MOCN) gateway compliant with the Joint Operators Technical Specification (JOTS) for neutral hosting. MOCN is the mechanism that lets several MNOs broadcast over one shared radio: without a JOTS-aligned gateway, an outdoor neutral host site cannot be onboarded by UK operators at all.
Deployments in Bath and Shrewsbury conservation zones produced practical learnings on siting, mounting, cabling and consent in protected settings — including a live deployment at the Roman Baths. These learnings form a replicable model that other local authorities can adopt for future infrastructure rollout, rather than re-litigating each installation from first principles.
See the heritage deployments →The network was evaluated against the Telecoms Security Act, ISO 27001, JOTS, ENISA guidance and 3GPP standards. Access control uses multi-factor authentication and secure VPN, with end-to-end monitoring via Zabbix and Smokeping. Ongoing work is directed at a Zero Trust Architecture (ZTNA) model for Open RAN.
The University of Lancaster developed an AI-based energy-saving and RAN optimisation routine using a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) — reducing the running cost and energy footprint of shared sites, which is central to the economics of rural and suburban coverage.