The report pours water on the Government’s signalling that OpenRAN is the silver bullet to the problems faced with Huawei.
The Government should learn from the mistakes of the past: The Science and Technology Committee completed its inquiry into the UK telecommunications infrastructure and the UK’s domestic capability. The report concludes the Government’s 5G supply chain diversification strategy has come too late to prevent the UK depending on two vendors, and will take years to yield meaningful results.
A new ‘critical technologies strategy’ is needed: Looking beyond 5G, the report urges the Government to avoid the same mistakes as new technologies emerge, and recommends that a new ‘critical technologies strategy’ is published within 12 months, identifying technologies likely to be of critical importance to the UK over the next ten to twenty years. The strategy should assess potential opportunities and risks of these technologies, and should align with the new Industrial Strategy.
OpenRAN is no silver bullet: The report recommends that the Government actively manages a programme of research with industry and academia. A range of measures to diversify the market should be adopted, keeping in mind that OpenRAN is one option, but its success is currently uncertain – so far the Government have been very vocal about this in particular as a solution to the problems seen in particular with Huawei. Given the small size of the UK market, the report invites the Government to lead efforts for international cooperation on the diversification of the supply chain.
