Chris Bryant – 2024 Speech at Connected Britain 2024

The speech made by Chris Bryant, the Minister for Data Protection and Telecoms, at ExCel in London on 12 September 2024.

I’m here to make you an offer. An offer I hope you won’t want to refuse.

We all know this country has great potential, but we have struggled in recent years. Too many things just don’t seem to work. Economic growth has been anaemic at best GDP growth per head of population has fallen. The cost of-living crisis has hit family budgets and businesses.

People are desperate to turn the corner.

Which is why we as a government are keen to fix the foundations – the foundations of our society and our economy. And no foundations are more important than our digital telecoms infrastructure.

And the phrase that keeps on coming back to me is from E M Forster’s novel, Howard’s End. He wrote ‘Only connect! Only connect the prose and the passion and both will be exalted. Live in fragments no longer.’

So my offer to you, my ask, is simple: help us fix the foundations, help us achieve that ambition of ‘only connect’, so that our society and our economy can stop living in fragments. If we can do that together, UK productivity could improve, your customers would have more fruitful lives economically and socially, government could be more efficient, the economy could grow and the financial return to your companies would be more secure.

This is a two way street. We know that investment needs to be driven by competition and we recognise the challenging investment climate against an international background, so we want to support industry to invest – through a stable fiscal framework and the right regulatory framework, light touch where it can be, but timely where enforced standards can facilitate secure decisions and investments.

I would also add that we as ministers want to make timely and evidence-based decisions.

Let me be specific about what that looks like.

First, the basics of infrastructure rollout.

Nobody seriously doubts that digital infrastructure underpins the modern digital economy, is a key driver of productivity and growth and is as essential as water and electricity.

I won’t bore you with the statistics that you already know, but suffice it to say that we have made significant progress on superfast broadband, on gigabit capable broadband, on 4G and 5G non-standalone. Project Gigabit and the shared rural network have brought connectivity to many who would otherwise have missed out and I can assure you that our ambitions have not changed.

Second, opportunities for better government.

The Police and courts services are significant consumers of voice and data services. Standalone 5G could enable  video transmission from body cameras and drones, in vehicle connectivity and support virtual court hearings in rural areas.

Standalone 5G can also transmit high resolution images from scans in hospitals, support autonomous medicine distribution – and enable more care in the community rather than in hospital beds. Future diagnostic imaging is likely to get greedier – and patients and local health services are going to need gigabit broadband to meet the challenge.

So help us build better, more productive public services.

Thirdly, opportunities for better lives.

If we get the legislation right on smart data, smarter gas and electricity metres could make it far easier for households to heat their homes and save on fuel bills. That would be good for personal finances and help us meet our net zero commitments.

There are economic advantages as well. Just think of the video games industry, one of our great success stories. It sits at the junction between tech and creativity. It needs strong connectivity, not just in offices in Leamington Spa, Dundee and Guildford, but in the countless flats and homes where designers work and in consumers’, customers’ and players’ homes. The circle of buffering doom is not the name of the latest game, but it is still a reality for too many.

Fourthly, we need to safely and responsibly retire obsolete legacy systems and future-poof our infrastructure.

The classic case here is Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), the old copper wires that provided our landlines for generations. They are failing at an increasing rate and need replacing. But that poses a real challenge for Telecare devices, 3 million of which are still operating on the old system. Government must and will do its part here. I have written to all the key local authorities to ensure that they work with operators to protect all vulnerable customers as they safely transition to fibre. And I have written to those who provide telecare devices to urge them to stop selling analogue-only kit that will very soon be unusable. In return, I’m delighted that all the operators are working on greater security during transition and greater battery resilience.

I could make very similar arguments about 2G. So, let’s work together.

Fifthly, I want us to connect everyone, but the truth is that far too many individuals and communities are excluded from the digital world.

Around 1.5 million people live in digital poverty with either no or limited access to connectivity. 2% of school children are only able to access the internet at home via a mobile phone and that figure rises substantially amongst the poorest families. 27% of adults on low incomes only access the internet by smartphone.

It is a shocking fact that the UK’s digital inclusion strategy is now more than ten years old – and ten years out of date. That cannot be right. Tackling digital inclusion is a key priority for this government. We want to take everyone with us – because if people are excluded by geography, age, financial status or lack of skills, that is a problem for the whole of society – and for you.

So we want to work with you to find creative solutions to digital inclusion.

I am grateful for the many social tariffs that are available, but only 8.3% (380,000) of over 4.6 million houses on Universal Credit take one up; only 45% of those eligible know that social tariffs exist, and 1.5 to 2 million are likely to struggle to afford even a social tariff.

I’m certain we can do better – but we need to work together, government and industry, to realise the full potential of every community.

Sixthly, we need to make the connection between two different aspects of my portfolio – telecoms and space.

The UK has a real competitive advantage in space and I want to exploit that to its full potential. I’m also conscious that Al working with telecoms data stands a real chance of driving far more efficient use of telecom connectivity. I hope to say more about this soon.

Seventh, I want us all to think about not-spots that have been a bit neglected.

Why, oh why, can’t we sort connectivity on trains? And in urban areas, many of which are falling behind rural areas for all sorts of complex reasons to do with wayleaves. And after live music events – or rugby matches in Cardiff – when you can’t call a friend, text them or WhatsApp them to arrange to meet up. My plea is simple – help!

Let me turn to what we are already doing as a government.

We want to support commercial investment, so we are  ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework for the fixed and mobile (wireless) networks; we are undertaking a Mobile Market Review to understand the technological and structural changes taking place in the sector; and we are looking at how we can further reform planning regulations to remove barriers to infrastructure deployment.

In order to remove barriers to rollout, we will implement the remaining telecoms provisions of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 as soon as possible; we will support the deployment of full-fibre to multi-dwelling units, such as blocks of flats and social housing, whilst remaining mindful of the need to maintain wholesale competition.

And we will put additional momentum into flexible permitting for street works and supporting their implementation as early as possible. That said, I do want to ensure far greater cooperation between operators to prevent unnecessary telegraph pole deployment or street  excavation. I understand the economic realities, but the market was made for humanity, not humanity for the market. Today I met with representatives of the fixed-line industry, and I welcome the industry’s initiative to revise the Cabinet Siting and Pole Siting Code of Practice. I am hopeful that industry can deliver changes leading to better engagement and more considerate siting. But we reserve the right to take further action if this doesn’t deliver the goods for consumers.

In order to realise the full benefits of adopting advanced connectivity, we are delivering the £36 million 5G Innovation Regions programme which empowers 10 regions across the UK to develop stackable use cases and commercial models for investing 5G in key sectors; and we are delivering the UK Telecoms Innovation Network (UKTIN) 5G Adoption programme to promote the adoption of 5G by businesses and local authorities.

We also want to help shape the next generation of telecoms technologies and develop more UK-based and UK-generated innovation. To that end we have made a £70 million R&D investment in three university-led Future telecoms research hubs and provided funding for 16 innovative UK business consortia, developing the next generation of tech. And we are building alliances internationally including through joint R&D partnerships  with India and Korea, through more UK participation in Horizon Europe and by establishing the Global Coalition on Telecoms with the US, Australia, Canada and Japan. I should also say a word about security and resilience.

We continue to work with communications providers and Ofcom to strengthen the security and resilience of UK networks and services.

On network resilience, I am keen that mobile consumers are able to have continued access to the network, even when power cuts disrupt local access. Climate change shows us we must be prepared for severe adverse weather and the disruption that can bring, often in rural and remote communities. Mobile operators have some power back up mitigations in place, but they vary significantly by site and by operator. Some sites have back up power lasting several hours or even days, but there is a lack of consistency nationwide.

Universal solutions may be difficult and expensive, but it’s  important to look closely at what solutions might be appropriate. I know Ofcom are looking at this closely following a Call for Input earlier this year, and we will want to work with Ofcom — and the power and telecoms sectors — to explore the right approach that balances the relevant factors.

An important aspect of that resilience is maintaining diverse and healthy supply chains, without which the UK  network is vulnerable to disruption. I am especially grateful to the Telecoms Supply Chain Diversification Advisory Council for their new report, released today (Thursday 12 September), setting out recommendations on telecoms diversification policy. Obviously we need to carefully review their recommendations, but we will provide an official government response as soon as possible and we are already acting in this area, delivering the £250 million ‘Open Networks’ R&D Fund focussed on development of interoperable Open RAN to increase the number of actors in the supply chain; building testing infrastructure — including UK Telecoms Lab, focused on security.

Let me end where I began, with E M Forster’s ‘Only Connect’. He wanted us to connect the heart and the brain. I want us to connect our artistic and our technical abilities; I want us to connect our finance, venture capitalist and tech industries; I want us to connect every   part of the country, every community and every family. And above all I want us as a government to be plugged in to the solutions to connect us all. I hope you’ll work with us.