While panellists were generally positive about the Government’s commitment to economic growth, questions remain on how that will be translated into tangible policy change
The Government’s growth agenda was at the heart of techK’s first ‘Future Telecoms Conference’
On 6 February 2025, techUK hosted its first, and particularly well attended, Future Telecoms Conference, bringing together policymakers, regulators and the industry to discuss the opportunities and challenges ahead for the sector in the UK and Europe. In addition to an expected focus on the sector’s role in the Government’s pursuit of growth, the event brought candid reflections on difficulties the sector has encountered in commercialisation as well as positive reflections on the contributions of connectivity and innovation to other forms of public good outside economic growth, including through efforts to address the digital divide and improve public services. Chi Onwurah (Chair, Science, Innovation and Technology Committee) opened the day with a reflection on how Ofcom is no longer a light touch regulator that tried not to regulate the internet but now finds its remit significantly expanded with its role in implementing and enforcing the Online Safety Act. She then offered her future-facing vision of a “resilient, competitive and inclusive digital infrastructure” that unlocks greater wealth for the country. In her first speech as Ofcom’s Group Director for Networks and Communications, Natalie Black described Ofcom’s role in that future as managing the balance between growth and protection in a pun-heavy session titled “Ofcom: Regulating for network growth”. While her speech stated the success of Ofcom’s work in developing remedies in the physical infrastructure access market and in shepherding one touch switch for the mobile market, the regulator’s future ambitions to foster growth were left largely undescribed, though she did reference ongoing work to overhaul its mobile coverage checker to better support consumers in choosing services based on their availability and quality of service. Most debate throughout the day then focused on the ways in which the Government and Ofcom could enable that path to greater prosperity.
The Three-Vodafone merger was applauded as a “blueprint for all competition authorities to follow”, but not a silver bullet
While a number of panellists cheered the work already done by the telecoms sector in powering growth, highlighting the sector’s leading place in the broader UK economy, conversation also centred on the remaining barriers facing operators. George Robinson (Head of Government Affairs, Three UK) gave a frank assessment of the current lack of use cases for 5G as partial cause for the UK’s place as a laggard in network rollout compared to European peers. Robinson also identified lack of scale as a key barrier but credited the nearing completion of the merger between Three and Vodafone as an important marker of progress and cause for optimism. Ben Wreschner (Group Regulation Policy Director, Vodafone) echoed this assessment, highlighting not only the investment commitments made by the merging firms but also the rivalry enhancing efficiencies which will be made possible by the approval granted by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). He described the decision as “blueprint for all competition authorities to follow”, which was picked by Maarit Palovirta (Deputy Director General, Connect Europe) in her ask for EU competition authorities to consider additional objectives that do not lend themselves to monetisation – such as network investment, resilience and environmental sustainability – alongside price and market structure when reviewing mergers. Looking to the future, Luigi Ardito (Senior Director of Government Affairs EMEA, Qualcomm) stressed that the UK and the EU must settle some of these fundamental tensions in order to look ahead to 6G and future innovation and compete globally with the US, China, Japan and India. While Bradley Carter-Roberts (Head of Broadband Strategy and Regulation Team, DSIT) was clear that the Three-Vodafone decision and recent personnel changes at the CMA did not reflect a shift in the Government’s political attitude towards competition, he did hint that the forthcoming statements of strategic priorities for fixed and mobile would include an ask for Ofcom to systematically review the regulatory burden facing the sector.
Recent changes in spectrum management presented a small cause for optimism, though broader reforms to award procedures and costing remained at issue
Spectrum management presented a degree of optimism for progress against long-standing concerns with existing regulatory frameworks. Palovirta noted a lack of regulatory certainty across EU Member States in spectrum award processes and linked this variation to the present lack of cross-border operations. Both Wreschner and Robinson discussed annual license fees (ALFs) as well, agreeing that Ofcom’s recent consultation on revising ALFs in the UK was a good start but that they hope to see a continued downward trend on spectrum spending overall. While Black’s statement that Ofcom views spectrum management as a driver of growth was met with light laughter, she continued to describe how Ofcom has used spectrum awards to support innovative use cases, even before business appeal has fully developed. She noted that spectrum for satellite connectivity was one of the regulator’s busiest workloads currently and highlighted the award of mmWave bands for private network development as well. The benefit of the convergence of terrestrial and nonterrestrial networks, enabled through spectrum sharing frameworks, was largely a point of agreement among panellists, with Kate North (Public Affairs Manager, Virgin Media O2) noting that satellite alongside government involvement will be important in extending connectivity to regions that are not economically viable for terrestrial networks otherwise.
Recent cooperation between the Government and industry was highlighted as an example of success for the sector in delivering for the good of the UK
The most positive conversations of the day centred on the cooperation and collaboration between the Government and industry to leverage connectivity for a broader public good, including through work to close the digital divide and in improving public services. Carter-Roberts offered repeated and genuine appreciation for the work underway to build trust between DSIT and operators. Both Robinson and Emma Shearer (Senior Government and Public Affairs Manager, CityFibre) echoed the success of Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network as a collaborative effort and identified DSIT’s expected plan for addressing digital inclusion as further opportunity to incorporate support for network rollouts alongside affordability and skills measures. Shearer also highlighted the digitisation of public services and the new role of DSIT as the digital centre of government as a further opportunity to deliver cooperatively for the good of the UK. On the whole, the day presented a cautious optimism on how the Government and Ofcom have spoken about the value of the industry and their intent to support its growth, but there was also a sense of impatience over how that support will manifest into regulatory change.
