Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any possible future negative impacts of the revision of procurement plans in July on the UK’s 5G roll-out targets.

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport was clear in his statement to the House of Commons on 14 July that the position on Huawei will have implications for rollout, that that was a necessary cost to ensure the security of our 5G networks and protect our national security. We expect the sector to do as much as possible to minimise the effects of this decision, and the Government remains focused on the UK becoming a world leader in 5G mobile technology, and for consumers and businesses to see the benefits of 5G as fast as possible.

Our ambition, therefore, remains for the majority of the UK population to have access to a 5G signal by 2027. To support this ambition, the Government is investing £200 million in a 5G Testbeds and Trials programme. The Mobile Network Operators are similarly focussed on rolling out commercial 5G coverage across the UK and, as a result, it is currently available in over 100 UK towns and cities.