20:25 18 June 2018
It seems that the UK government has learned that the best way to rollout the next generation mobile network is to let telecommunication companies take full charge.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport Matt Hancock said that the UK Government is going to stay at arm’s length in this project.
On a panel session at 5G World, Mr Hancock said: “In government, we are clear about our role; we are essentially an enabler, from spectrum policies through to the nitty gritty barrier busting to making deployment cost as low as possible,”
He added: “We’ve learnt a huge amount about regulating the space over the last few years, but in politics you have to decide what the outcome you want is and the best way to get there. Delivering infrastructure ourselves would be an absolute disaster, who remembers MIP,
MIP, also known as the Mobile Infrastructure Project, was an initiative launched by the government in 2011. Its goal was to address not spots throughout the country by setting up new cellular sites to fix the digital divide. Unfortunately, it was not a successful venture.