UK Telecommunications Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Flick Drummond
Main Page: Flick Drummond (Conservative - Meon Valley)Department Debates - View all Flick Drummond's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(4 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Oliver Dowden
The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Of course, in the medium to long run, open RAN is the solution. I just have to caution that that is not available immediately, so that is why, in the shorter run, we are also working on trying to introduce further existing vendors into the United Kingdom, principally Samsung and NEC.
Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)
Can I also welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, but will he commit the Government to further financial support for research and development to enable the UK telecommunications industry to move fast so that we can fill the gap as quickly as possible?
Oliver Dowden
My hon. Friend raises a very important point. Of course the Chancellor was at the National Security Council when we were discussing this, clearly in order to facilitate the open RAN solution that will require investment from the Government, but that will be a matter for the Chancellor at a future fiscal event.