Recommendation 24

The Government has only recently considered the consolidation of vendors in the UK’s telecommunications market as a potential risk to national security, although it is a process that has taken place over ten to twenty years. One problem appears to have been the focus on the security of the network operators and not their supply chains, including when setting the role and powers of the regulator. Although the diversification strategy now addresses vendor diversity, it still does not consider the full supply chain. Whereas other nations and regions, including the USA, Australia and the European Union, have produced strategies addressing supply chain risk across all critical technology areas, the Government’s diversification strategy addresses only 5G.