Until now, the UK government have decided to allow Huawei to play a role in the 5G deployment here in the UK. Despite US concerns, the UK allowed Huawei to be used in “non-core” kit.
However, GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre has delivered new findings into Huawei and it’s believed that they can no longer assure the security of Huawei’s products because of new US sanctions.
There’s concerns that the UK may ask operators to remove all Huawei kit or ban the purchase of Huawei 5G equipment by the end of the year.
However, Huawei have come out fighting. Paul Harrison, Huawei’s head of international media here in the UK, tweeted that …
UK policy is being dictated by (the) Trump administration. Shouldn’t the US respect a United Kingdom in the post-Brexit era being in a position to chose its own telecommunication strategy?
He went on to say the following…
1/6 Important, in my view, to underline what’s going on here:
• USA has no major global stake in 5G
• Get one: supress Huawei chip supply
• This forces UK Gov to assess impact
= UK policy is being dictated by Trump administration. European Parliament replaced by White House? pic.twitter.com/pVmTV2Hwxb— Paul Harrison (@HarrisonComms) July 5, 2020
Today BT’s CTO, Howard Watson, has warned the Commons Science and Technology Committee that it can’t simply remove Huawei components within three years.
That would literally mean blackouts for customers on 4G and 2G, as well as 5G throughout the country.
The Sunday Times has reported that BT and Vodafone have asked for a delay – until at least 2030 to remove Huawei’s equipment from their existing 5G infrastructure.