The UK has announced it is joining forces with other nations to strengthen coordination on telecoms security, resilience, and innovation as a new global coalition is launched.

Together with Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US, the UK will use the coalition in a bid to ensure communications networks can remain resilient and adaptable when confronted by key challenges.

These range from supply chain disruption to cyber-attacks, strengthening the country’s ability to stay connected at the most critical times.

Announced today, the Global Coalition on Telecommunications (GCOT) will also explore opportunities for closer coordination in areas such as research and development, information sharing, and international outreach.

Through these initiatives, the coalition seeks to advance several shared objectives which include promoting growth opportunities for industry and enabling dialogue between policymakers, business, and academia.

The UK government is claiming to understand the critical nature of telecommunications and says by working with some of the largest global economies, the UK can attempt to remain at the forefront of efforts to diversify global telecoms supply chain, develop skills and industry expertise, and strengthen security in the face of potential risks.

However, the joint statement has pushed the development of future technologies such as 6G when some of the UK is still lacking reliable broadband.

The well-documented rural rift in broadband is continuing to impact many rural and remote areas, particularly in Scotland, that have yet to be reached by initiatives such as Project Gigabit or the Shared Rural Network.

Further, about half the UK lacks broadband speeds of 100Mbps, which can halt digital transformation and lead to digital exclusion.

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It was recently found that rural Scotland has the slowest broadband speeds in the UK, and is still lagging behind in the fibre broadband rollout.

In 2021, a major global broadband study found that out of 29 European nations, the UK ranked 21st for broadband speeds.

As part of the UK’s international involvement, the government is putting £70m in investment towards future telecoms technology like 6G, and including new technologies to better connect space-based and terrestrial networks. Other avenues include technology that improves data transfers, energy efficiency, and moving networks to the cloud.

“This £70 million investment will, via the Future Telecoms UKRI Technology Missions Fund (TMF) Programme, form part of the UK’s contribution to international cooperation in this field and provide tangible benefits to the population and economy,” said Dr Kedar Pandya, the executive director of cross-council programmes at UKRI.

“The UKRI Technology Missions funding is designed to exploit the UK’s global leadership in transformative technologies to help solve specific problems, while also helping to lay the foundations for a longer-term leading position.”

As part of the joint statement released, the participating nations plan on introducing some standards between international partners and industry stakeholders for the development and deployment of telecommunications, which could potentially benefit the entire UK.