UK goes big on OpenRAN as it tightens Huawei sanctions further

In keeping with the current political climes, the UK government has decided to unilaterally impose further constraints on what mobile operators can do with their own networks.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) unveiled yet another ‘Roadmap to remove high risk vendors from telecoms network’, as it ungrammatically called it. The headline restriction is that operators must stop installing any Huawei equipment in 5G networks from the end of September 2021.

Since operators already had to get rid of all Huawei kit by 2028, this stipulation seems redundant. Furthermore it marks a further escalation of government meddling in the affairs of these private companies. How they go about hitting the 2028 deadline should be down to them and, if it suits their purposes, stopgap use of stockpiled Huawei kit should be fine so long as it’s gone by then.

“Today I am setting out a clear path for the complete removal of high risk vendors from our 5G networks,” said Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden. “This will be done through new and unprecedented powers to identify and ban telecoms equipment which poses a threat to our national security.” You can tell he’s loving those powers, can’t you? Here’s the ‘clear path’.

Aware of the consequent near-duopoly in the 5G kit market this ban of Chinese vendors has created, Dowden also decided to bang on about OpenRAN, which he’s decided solves that problem.  “We are also publishing a new strategy to make sure we are never again dependent on a handful of telecoms vendors for the smooth and secure running of our networks,” he said. “Our plans will spark a wave of innovation in the design of our future mobile networks.”

As part of this diversification strategy the government is chucking £250 million into the pot ‘to kick off work to create a more diverse, competitive, and innovative supply market for telecoms.’ Some of that is going NEC’s way, as part of the previously announced deal with the Japanese government. There will also be a new national telecoms lab that is expected to contribute to the collective effort, as is the OpenRAN-focused SmartRAN Open Network Innovation Centre.

“As Chair of the Telecoms Diversification Taskforce, I fully support the ambition of the strategy and its objectives,” said Lord Livingston, who was appointed to his position by the government. “In order to position ourselves at the forefront of the next generation of technology, it is vital that we invest in R&D, help shape global standards and work closely with our international partners.”

In effect the UK government is bribing incumbents with public money to play ball and picking winners among prospective OpenRAN vendors according to political criteria. As ever, the private sector will trouser the public wedge and then just do what it wants, making sure publish supportive quotes every now and then. If there is the need for new vendors, the market doesn’t require state intervention to fulfil it.