The UK is to ban the installation of 5G equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by the end of September next year.
The restriction is part of a £250 million (US$334 million) package of measures brought in to diversify the UK’s wireless supply chain announced by the British Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
The stricter rules might also help fend off a challenge from lawmakers in the ruling Conservative Party seeking tighter restrictions on the Chinese network equipment maker.
Photo: Reuters
British ministers in July announced that Shenzhen-based Huawei would be totally banned from the UK’s next-generation mobile networks in 2027, with purchases barred from next month.
To comply with those rules, phone companies would have had to stop adding Huawei components eventually, but the new ban might accelerate their plans to overhaul systems. Maintaining existing equipment would be allowed.
The crackdown followed a US push for allies to exclude Huawei on the grounds it was an unacceptable security threat, which the company denies.
In January, British officials said Huawei could play a limited role with manageable risks. They since reversed that stance and backed a ban following US sanctions introduced in May, saying that the US squeeze on Huawei’s silicon supply chain meant its security could no longer be guaranteed.
Telecommunications carriers like BT Group PLC would now be reliant on a duopoly of Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB, and those Nordic companies have already won big contracts in the wake of the Huawei ban.
NATIONAL LAB
To help cut that dependency, the British government is to start a National Telecoms Lab to research security and increase compatibility between vendors, as well as fund trials with potential challengers, such as Japan’s NEC Corp, to make it easier for competitors to enter the market.
Phasing out older 2G and 3G technology would also speed up the diversification process, the British government said in a statement.
Carriers would be banned from outsourcing service management to Huawei from April next year apart from in limited circumstances, the government said.
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