Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the UK telecoms industry.
Answered by Margot James
In the event of a deal there should be no changes during the implementation period. Telecoms is one of the most liberalised services internationally. The UK benefits from the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services which makes clear that governments and regulators should not discriminate against telecoms companies of other countries and should ensure fair and equal access to public telecoms networks and services. The UK and the EU are committed to these rules and the government therefore does not anticipate any major changes for UK companies operating in the EU.
In the unlikely event of no deal, the government has published two technical notices on telecoms. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-telecoms-businesses-should-do-if-theres-no-brexit-deal/what-telecoms-businesses-should-do-if-theres-no-brexit-deal