UK cuts off Chinese company Huawei from its 5G plan

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government will ban Huawei from Britain’s  5G network by ordering telecoms companies to remove its equipment by 2027.

Telecoms companies will also be told to stop using Huawei in fixed-line fibre broadband within the next two years. Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Oliver Dowden announced the decision in parliament.

The UK will ask mobile operators such as Telefonica’s O2, Three, BT / EE and Vodafone UK to remove all existing Huawei gear made by the Chinese telecoms behemoth from the 5G network by 2027.

UK-based telecoms firms had already reduced Huawei’s role in the 5G network at 35 percent by 2023.

Vodafone and BT, two leading telecom operators in the United Kingdom, have already said removal of Huawei from their mobile network will disrupt their business and they will miss leadership in 5G business. Huawei is the largest telecom network maker in the world and second largest supplier of smartphones.

Huawei generated revenue of 159.6 billion yuan from carrier business in the first half of 2020. Huawei’s revenue from smartphone business was 255.8 billion yuan and 36.3 billion yuan from enterprise business in the first half of 2020.

Britain’s National Security Council (NSC), chaired by Boris Johnson, met on Tuesday to discuss Huawei. Media Secretary Oliver Dowden announced the decision to the House of Commons at around 1130 GMT, as per a newspaper report.

NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has reported to ministers that they have significantly changed their security assessment of Huawei’s presence in the UK’s 5G network,” Media Secretary Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons after Johnson chaired a meeting of Britain’s NSC.

“The context has changed slightly with some of the sanctions that the U.S. has brought in,” Environment Secretary George Eustice told Sky News earlier when asked about Huawei.

Huawei denies it spies for China and has said the United States wants to frustrate its growth because no US company could offer the same range of technology at a competitive price.

In January, Boris Johnson defied Donald Trump by enabling Huawei’s involvement in 5G, capped at 35 percent. UK excluded Huawei from the sensitive 5G core where data is processed, as well as critical networks and locations such as nuclear and military sites.

Huawei’s customers including BT, Vodafone and Three will be under pressure to continue in the mobile service business.