UK and Japan are working together to reduce dependence on 5G infrastructure

06. 03. 2022 Sunday / By: Robert Denes / Industrial / Exact time: BST / Print this page

The UK and Japan hope to reduce global over-reliance on a small number of suppliers to build and maintain networks.

The UK and Japan are working together to diversify the technology that underpins telecommunications networks under a new agreement signed on Friday.

UK Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez and Japanese Home Office and Vice President of Communications Yuji Sasaki have agreed on a number of joint initiatives to support efforts to reduce global over-reliance on a few technology suppliers.

The UK government is investing £ 28 million to test innovative 5G use cases. Both nations are committed to sharing their respective policy approaches to a greater extent and building a more competitive and diverse global market for telecommunications equipment such as 5G and future wireless networks.

They also agreed to collaborate on research and development, particularly on open and interoperable network technologies such as Open RAN, which allows telecom operators to mix and pair technical equipment from different vendors within a network. Governments will share information and facilitate joint efforts between industry and academia in both countries to develop future technologies such as 6G.

Julia Lopez the UK Partnership for Digital Infrastructure said: "The partnership will open up important new avenues for both countries to work together towards a common goal of a more secure, competitive and innovative telecommunications supply chain."

“I am delighted to announce a framework for telecommunications cooperation between Japan and the UK that will promote diversification of suppliers, including 5G,” Sasaki added. "Our countries both recognize the importance of initiatives to secure the supply chains of telecommunications infrastructure."

The United Kingdom has announced similar cooperation with India and the United States to develop closer cooperation to diversify telecommunications. The UK government hopes these initiatives will support the £ 250 million 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy, which aims to create a more competitive and diversified telecoms market. This includes supporting incumbent suppliers, attracting new suppliers to the UK market, and accelerating the development and deployment of open-source technologies such as Open RAN, according to the government.

The UK has invested £ 28 million in 2021 to test innovative 5G cases across the country. This included 5G cargo ports as well as improving the visitor experience at places like the Eden Project or the O2 Arena. Five of the projects also explored the potential of Open RAN, including testing cameras, drones, mixed reality, and IoT sensors.

The partnership came in just over a year after a report puts a security risk in the UK’s dependence on two 5G vendors, with Ericsson and Nokia the only vendor left after Huawei’s ban was confirmed. According to a report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Commission in February, UK policy on telecoms networks suffers from a “lack of strategic foresight”.


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