The UK government has announced that Huawei will be removed from the country’s 5G networks by the end of 2027. The marks as a U-turn from its previous decision in January to allow the use of Huawei equipment in the development of the infrastructure, with certain limitations.
Additionally, the government is also banning telecommunication operators from buying new 5G equipment from the Chinese company starting January of next year. Furthermore, the operators are given the period of seven years to completely remove Huawei’s existing technology from their 5G infrastructure.
The move was decided on 14 July 2020 during a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by British prime minister Boris Johnson, in response to new US sanctions against Huawei. The decision also followed new advice produced by the country’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), who have reviewed the consequences of the sanctions and have determined that the new restrictions will make it impossible to continue to guarantee the security of the Chinese firm’s equipment in the future.
“5G will be transformative for our country, but only if we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon,” said digital secretary Oliver Dowden in a statement to the House of Commons. “Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks.”
It is also apparent that this was the result of constant pressure from the US, who have been adamant on advising its allies to ban the usage of Huawei’s equipment, as well as cutting all trades with them. Its recent sanctions have restricted the Chinese company from accessing products that have been built on US semiconductor technology.
(Source: UK Govt official website)
