Britain’s government yesterday backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies Co (華為) a limited role in the UK’s new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing.
Britain said it imposed the ban after US sanctions made it impossible to ensure the security of Huawei equipment, forcing it to start turning to other suppliers for components.
The US threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing arrangement with the UK because of concerns Huawei equipment could allow the China to infiltrate UK networks.
British Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden said that the decision would delay the 5G rollout, and cost millions of pounds, but that it had to be done.
“This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one,” Dowden said.
The decision gives British telecoms operators until 2027 to remove Huawei equipment already in Britain’s 5G network. The operators must stop buying 5G equipment from Huawei by the end of the year.
Critically for telecoms operators, the government opted not to order firms to rip out legacy equipment manufactured by Huawei in earlier systems, such as 4G. Such a decision might have caused havoc in UK telecoms systems.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under pressure from rebels in his own Conservative Party who criticized China’s new national security legislation for Hong Kong and its treatment of ethnic Uighurs, as well as Huawei’s links to the Chinese government.
Ten Conservative lawmakers sent a letter to Johnson demanding that he remove Huawei from “the UK’s critical national infrastructure.”
Johnson in January sought to balance economic and security pressures by agreeing to give Huawei a limited role in Britain’s 5G network, excluding the company from core components of the system and restricting its involvement to 35 percent of the overall project.
Amid continued pressure to remove Huawei from communication networks entirely, the US in May imposed new sanctions that would bar companies around the world from using US-made machinery or software to produce chips for the Chinese company.
Huawei expressed disappointment at the UK’s decision, saying that it threatens to move “Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide.”
“Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicized, this is about US trade policy and not security,” Huawei UK spokesman Ed Brewster said. “Over the past 20 years, Huawei has focused on building a better connected UK. As a responsible business, we will continue to support our customers as we have always done.”
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