Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Foreign Secretary’s Oral Statement of 28 January 2020, what progress he has made on supporting the emergence of new, disruptive entrants to the telecommunications supply chain.

We are continuing to work at pace to deliver a targeted diversification strategy to rebalance the supply chain. We will be bringing this strategy forward in the autumn, alongside the Telecoms Security Bill.

The strategy will be based around three core elements; securing incumbent vendors, attracting new vendors and accelerating the development of open interface solutions. It will also focus on building UK capability and influence within the supply chain.

To support the development of the strategy, the Government has recently announced the establishment of a Telecoms Diversification Taskforce. The Taskforce, which is composed of leading figures from industry and academia, will provide independent and expert advice to the Government - turbocharging our work on these three core elements of our strategy.

Throughout the development of the strategy, we have continued to look for opportunities to make progress on market diversification. In the coming weeks we will set out plans and details of some of the first Government supported ‘OpenRAN’ 5G trials in the UK. These will accelerate the delivery of the strategy and create opportunities for disruptive new entrants in the UK market.

We are also continuing to speak with a range of vendors about how we can support them to enter the market and accelerate diversification. We have actively engaged with major players and emerging vendors and we will continue to work with any vendor - big or small - who can help us achieve our aim to rebalance the supply chain.