Telecoms Diversification Task Force
A new taskforce, the Telecoms Diversification Task Force, has been set up to support the development and implementation of the government’s forthcoming strategy on the UK’s telecoms supply chain – aimed at reducing the reliance on high-risk vendors and bring more players into the market. Lord Livingston will lead the taskforce as Chair, with members from industry (Vodafone, Openreach, Copper Horse, BSI) and academic experts from Universities of Surrey and Bristol. Technical Director of NCSC and Ofcom’s Director of Emerging Technology will provide technical advice.
This follows the government’s commitment, informed by advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, to ban the use of new Huawei 5G equipment from the end of 2020 and remove all existing Huawei kit from 5G networks by 2027. The forthcoming Telecoms Security Bill will turn these commitments into law after being introduced this autumn.
techUK is exploring the opportunities and challenges of diversifying the UK’s telecoms supply chain, including what is needed in terms of R&D funding, more mature standards and demand side changes to supercharge the UK’s telecoms supplier base. The Diversifying Telecoms event is taking place on 20 October and will explore government’s plans for increasing the diversity of the telecoms supply base, the potential policy drivers and UK’s ambitions to invest in and deploy Open RAN technology.
