United Kingdom has banned Huawei from its 5G telecom network, reversing a January decision to allow the Chinese tech company a limited role in building the country’s super-fast wireless infrastructure.
British phone companies will no longer be able to add any new Huawei components to their 5G networks by the end of the year.
Subsequently, all existing equipment made by the Shenzhen-based company would need to be removed from 5G infrastructure by 2027, Bloomberg reports.
Operators have also been warned to stop buying Huawei gear for their fixed full-fiber broadband networks.
The UK government will consult with the industry on a timetable for the tighter measure on fixed networks, but said it is expected to come into force within two years.
Digital and Culture Minister Oliver Dowden said new US sanctions imposed on the company in May had ‘significantly changed’ the landscape, hence the overturn of previous decision.
Dowden said;
Given the uncertainty this creates around Huawei’s supply chain, the UK can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment.
He said;
While 5G will be transformative for the U.K., confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon is vital. The government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the U.K.
The ban comes amid growing global concerns over the security implications of Chinese technology.
On Sunday, President Trump’s advisor Peter Navarro told Fox News that the Administration was “just getting started” with actions against TikTok and WeChat, a popular Chinese-owned messaging app.
Read Also: US Is ‘Looking At’ Banning TikTok, Other Chinese Apps Over Security Concerns
Earlier in July, India banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok and WeChat following a diplomatic spat between the two countries.
UK’s ban therefore comes as a big win for the Trump administration, which has been pushing allies to exclude Huawei from their 5G networks, arguing that the Chinese company is a threat to national security.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared last month that;
The tide is turning against Huawei as citizens around the world are waking up to the danger of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state.
The ban on Huawei will cost U.K. operators as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) to implement, and will delay the roll out of 5G networks by between two and three years, UK government said.
The decision to strip Huawei’s kit from British networks represents a major reversal by Johnson, and threatens to fuel a growing row between the U.K. and China at a highly sensitive time.
US believes the private Chinese company could either spy for Beijing or shut down rival countries’ 5G networks in times of war.
Huawei has always denied this and pointed to two decades of cooperation with British security agencies that checked on the safety of its existing 3G and 4G networks.
