Boris Johnson’s speech at the Conservatives Party Conference suggests that the prime minister’s team remains committed to the themes outlined during his early weeks in power, such as the ‘levelling up’ agenda.
 
And yet, a recent publication from the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) presents a challenge to this narrative. Asserting that a faster 5G rollout is an essential tool in driving a stronger UK recovery and ‘levelling up’ the regions, the report delivers an ominous prediction that the stalling delivery of 5G infrastructure will potentially result in more than 11 million households and businesses missing out on vital digital connectivity by 2027, costing the UK over £41 billion in lost opportunity.
 
Meanwhile, rankings published by analyst house Omidia show that the UK has fallen one position with regards to 5G deployment, claiming seventh place in 2020. The results also indicate that Switzerland has maintained its position as the top country in Europe, while South Korea remains the global leader in 5G progress. Indeed, according to the CPS report, the difference between the UK being a leader and a laggard in 5G adoption could amount to as much as £173bn in incremental GDP over the coming decade.
 
In a demonstration of confidence in the long-term potential of the UK’s digital economy, Liberty Global and Telefónica’s have recently unveiled their plans to invest £10 billion into accelerating the national 5G rollout and ensuring that 5G services will be available in 100 UK towns and cities by the end of 2021. Adding to this, they plan to expand their gigabit-capable network to reach an extra one million premises within a year of the merger closing, and to then connect a further seven million homes. The combination of gigabit broadband speeds and new 5G mobile is expected to revolutionise all sectors, especially in manufacturing, healthcare and transport.
 
This undoubtedly comes as good news for boosting digital infrastructure in the UK. And yet, significant barriers to deployment remain. Alex Jackman and Nick King, former government advisors and authors of the CPS report are calling for urgent reforms to the Electronic Communications Code in accelerating the UK’s rollout of 5G, as onerous planning rules and loopholes in the existing legislation hinder progress. Without such efforts, the UK stands to miss its 2025 deadline for gigabit connectivity and 2027 target for 5G coverage, they caution.
 
With yet another report published today by the defence committee, backing the creation of the Telecomms Security Bill, which would seek to place national security considerations ahead of commercial concerns, one thing seems clear: for Britain to ‘level up’, sustained public sector leadership in creating a conducive deployment environment needs to be stepped up in equal measure.