The Government agrees with the Committee’s assessment of the scale of the diversification challenge and agrees that there is a need to work at pace to make early progress and build momentum as we work toward our long term ambitions. for new suppliers and deployment models, funded a range of Open RAN trials through the DCMS 5G Testbeds and Trials Programme, and convened international discussions to build consensus across the global market. The Government is pleased to be collaborating with Japanese supplier NEC for the NeutrORAN Open RAN testbed in North Wales, and the SmartRAN Open Network Interoperability Centre (SONIC) announced in November is on track to be open for industry testing this May. Alongside this, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) established the Diversification Taskforce and engaged closely with the sector, both in the UK and globally, to seek advice on the practical actions that the Government can take to accelerate the process of diversification. The Diversification Taskforce’s full report containing their recommendations to Government was published on 20 April. The report makes a wide range of recommendations across four primary areas: the role of Government in ensuring that international standards-setting for 5G works for the UK, potential government and regulatory interventions such as defragmenting spectrum or sunsetting 2G and 3G, opportunities to accelerate the development and adoption of Open RAN, and long-term ambitions for domestic capability in future telecoms. The Government will respond to the findings of the Diversification Taskforce and set out the detailed steps that it will take to drive the implementation and delivery of its strategy before summer recess, including specific deliverables and milestones. This will include setting out the Government’s approach to the next round of targeted research and development (R&D) investment.