Australia, Canada and the United States have backed guidelines
for telecoms companies, developed by the UK, designed to build a
more innovative, competitive and secure supply of equipment for
telecoms networks, including for 5G and 6G.
The three nations are the first to endorse the UK’s principles for the
development of Open RAN - a new breed of telecoms kit which
allows providers to ‘mix and match’ solutions from multiple
vendors which is not possible under current network setups.
The joint
statement will send a clear signal to telecoms firms across
the globe about how the four countries would like to see the
benefits of Open RAN realised.
The move will boost efforts to reduce the world’s dependency on a
small number of telecoms companies to build and maintain 5G and
future networks, and help open up the global market to new
entrants.
5G connectivity will revolutionise people’s daily lives and boost
business productivity through much faster internet speeds, as
well as underpinning new technologies such as driverless cars,
improved artificial intelligence and precision healthcare.
Digital Infrastructure Minister said:
We are investing £250 million to put the UK at the forefront of
5G innovation so more people and businesses can benefit from
improved and secure connectivity.
The UK has set out a blueprint for telecoms firms across the
world to design more open and secure networks. With the
endorsement of Australia, Canada and the United States, the
industry now has the clarity it needs to deliver a new generation
of wireless infrastructure fit for the future.
The joint statement coincides with the one-year anniversary of
the 2021 Prague Proposals on Telecommunications Supplier
Diversity and goes one step further by setting out an intention
to collaborate across a number of areas, ranging from sharing
information on respective approaches to telecoms diversification,
through to research and development.
This partnership will not only also help secure current networks,
but also future networks looking towards 6G and beyond.
The 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, published November
2020 and backed by the £250 million Open Networks Fund, sets out
where the government will remove barriers for new vendors, invest
in open and interoperable solutions such as Open RAN and work
with like-minded countries to achieve the shared aim for secure
and resilient telecoms supply chains.
Strong progress has been made since publication of the UK’s
Diversification
Strategy, with the government announcing research and
development interventions such as the Future RAN Competition
(FRANC) which will see up to £36 million of funding made
available, and the SmartRAN Open Network
Interoperability Centre (SONIC) which opened its doors in
June 2021.
The government has previously announced a joint ambition with UK
mobile network operators to increase the share of open and
interoperable equipment in UK networks to 35 per cent by 2030,
and positive progress has been seen from industry since then
with, for example, Vodafone and Telefonica deploying their first
live Open RAN sites using new market entrants.
Claire O’Neil MP, Australia Minister for Home Affairs and
Minister for Cyber Security, said:
This Joint Statement underscores Australia’s continued commitment
to working alongside some of our closest international partners
to cooperate on areas of mutual interest and concern, including
on the security and resilience of telecommunication.
