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BT Group study says UK lags behind peers in drone readiness

Telecom company BT Group has released new research indicating the UK needs to take steps to catch up with other nations currently leaving it behind in terms of drone operation and service readiness – a somewhat counterintuitive finding given the nation’s innovative aerial efforts over the past couple of years.

Businesses in the UK have been quite active both individually and collectively in forging ahead with plans to prepare new drone activities – some representing visionary thinking in terms of small craft aviation operation. But the BT Group-commissioned study by research company GSMA Intelligence shows the nation lagging behind others in terms of pragmatic preparations to unleash UAV activity. 

The research identified a major sticking point in that as being – wait for it – a confounding regulatory landscape.

Read: UK UAV group urges rapid expansion of BVLOS drone activities

The money line in the study is that “many of the UK’s international partners, including Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy have seen their drone ecosystems develop faster due to established regulatory systems and infrastructure.”

As a result, the nation occupies a spot its football fans will identify as an unenviable position: on the underbelly of overall standings.

Perhaps just as remarkable, the report finds several other nations often considered leaders in private sector drone innovation ranking even lower than the UK, including the US and Australia. The top five are Switzerland, Germany, France, Finland, and Japan – a near clean-sweep by countries working under European Union rules.

Read: Healy interview II: Scaling Manna drone delivery under ‘well-defined, cohesive’ EU regulation

Hard-charging UK companies have introduced – often with government support – innovative UAV projects that range from drones transporting mail to remote locations, and operating regional or even national healthcare networks

potentially revolutionary plan still taking form is the 165-mile “Skyway” drone corridor spanning the Midlands to the country’s southeast that BT Group and UAV air traffic specialist Altitude Angel are leading.

ReadHevenDrones CEO says hydrogen fuel could charge UK’s massive drone superhighway project

Yet despite all that pro-active action by businesses, GSMA Intelligence finds the UK will miss out on some of the potential £45 billion ($56 billion) and 650,000 jobs that drone activity is expected to generate by 2030 unless remedial changes are made within the next 12 months.

Top among those urgencies are moves by UK’s Civil Aviation Authority regulator to:

  • Enforce pro-innovation regulations and a promote a pro-growth regulatory culture
  • Extend the Future Flight Challenge – the government-backed competitive scheme under which private sector drone innovation is awarded with funding and other support
  • Move quickly with the understanding that “many advanced economies expect drone regulations to be in place by 2024–2025, a date that the UK must also meet to remain competitive in developing home-grown technology for domestic use and in export markets” 

A parallel BT Group poll showed the UK public divided on the looming scaling of drone operations. It was, however, largely supportive of widening UAV activity – albeit with an initial preference on public services and first responder deployment outweighing enterprise scenarios like delivery.

Read: Skyports’ Scottish school meal delivery tapped for national award

The drone unit director of BT Group’s Etc. innovation division, Dave Pankhurst, responded to the findings arguing that while the UK still faces regulatory challenges permitting aerial activity to reach its full potential, continued businesses deployment can serve as a pressure point to prod officials into faster action.

“Across the globe, the drone industry is being rapidly unlocked,“ Pankhurst said. “Tapping into this can transform the world of business, the delivery of public services, and the prospects for the UK economy. BT Group is leading from the front. Our mobile network, as the largest and most reliable in the UK, could be critical. From improving flight control; assisting with authentication and authorization; facilitating data transmission; and enabling cellular communication, 4G and 5G technology can be the backbone of the industry.”

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Avatar for Bruce Crumley Bruce Crumley

Bruce Crumley is journalist and writer who has worked for Fortune, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, The Guardian, AFP, and was Paris correspondent and bureau chief for Time magazine specializing in political and terrorism reporting. He splits his time between Paris and Biarritz, and is the author of novel Maika‘i Stink Eye.