Former Fujitsu chair to lead Telecoms Advisory Council

Simon Bladgen, the former non-executive chair of Fujitsu UK, will head up the taskforce created to “provide advice on how to effectively deliver a more competitive and diverse 5G telecoms market”.

Having taken over the work of the Telecoms Diversification Taskforce, the taskforce has delivered a report to the government giving recommendations on diversification of broadband supply following the removal of Huawei equipment from UK 5G networks.

One of the taskforce’s recommendations was to establish a permanent external body to advise on the delivery of the diversification strategy and wider related issues, including potential supply chain issues in other telecoms equipment such as fixed broadband.

Among the taskforce’s initial recommendations was investment in R&D to remove barriers to entry for Open RAN technology. Earlier this week, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced the launch of the £30m Future RAN Competition (FRANC) fund to “reduce over-reliance on a small number of telecoms vendors”.