Britan Bans Huawei From 5G Network
Britain’s 5G network will be delayed for up to three years and could cost up to £2billion more than expect after the Government decided to remove Huawei technology from the system by 2027.
Telecomms companies will be told not to buy any new Huawei 5G equipment from December 31, the Government has confirmed.
And legal changes will make its purchase illegal in the coming months, Media Secretary Oliver Dowden has told MPs.
But preexisting Huawei technology in 3G, 4G and fibreoptic broadband infrastructure will remain in place.
Labour’s Chi Onwurah accused the Government of being “incomprehensibly negligent” as just six months ago ministers said that the company, which critics say has a close relationship with the Chinese government, could have a limited role in the network.
But today’s decision will mean equipment already installed will have to be removed from the network by 2027.
Under pressure from Washington, and in the wake of sanctions imposed by the Trump regime – the UK called for a review of the company’s role in the UK 5G network.
And today Oliver Dowden declared that the company would not be allowed to install any new equipment from next year – delaying the roll out and raising the cost of the project.
He told MP’s that the ban “will delay rollout by a further year and will add up to half a billion to the costs”
He added that: “Requiring operators to remove Huawei equipment from their 5G networks by 2027 will add hundreds of millions to the cost and further delay roll out.
“This means a cumulative delay to 5G rollout of two to three years and costs of up to two billion pounds.”
The ban applies to the technology in the network, not individual people’s phones or tablets, which officials stress present minimal security risk.
Ed Brewster, a spokesperson for Huawei UK, said: “This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of ‘levelling up’ the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider.
“We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK.
“Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicized, this is about US trade policy and not security.
“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.
“We will conduct a detailed review of what today’s announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain.”
Shadow digital, science and technology minister Chi Onwurah accused the Government of an “incomprehensibly negligent” approach and questioned whether the UK’s security policy is now being led by the US.
“It has been clear for some time that there are serious questions over whether Huawei should be allowed to control large sections of our country’s telecoms networks, yet the Government refused to face reality,” she said.
Ahead of the decision Lord Browne of Madingley, the former BP boss, stepped step down early as chair of the company’s UK board.
This morning the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the National Security Council, which made the decision on the restrictions.
By the time of the next election, the UK will be on an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our network.
UK officials approved the decision in January on the basis that while they believed the company was controlled by the Chinese state that the risk to be managed if the company’s involvement was capped and limited to outside the core of the network.
But a decision by the US to ban the inclusion of any US tech in Huawei technology means UK officials were concerned about the supply chain for the technology and its security.
Tom Tugendhat, Tory chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, has called on the Government to take the opportunity to distance itself even further from Beijing.
He said in The Telegraph that Mr Xiaoming’s comments signalled it was time for the UK to kick its “addiction to Beijing tech”.
It is a clear sign that today’s concession may not appease the 60 Tory rebels who have been calling for tougher action on the company.
They had wanted ministers to ban the purchase of new Huawei kit in the next 12 months across Britain’s phone networks, and to eliminate it entirely by 2026.
However, any decision on the company is likely to prompt some response from the Chinese Government.
Last week in a televised press conference China’s ambassador to the UK said a ban on Huawei from playing a role in developing would damage Chinese trust in the UK and its belief that the UK can run a foreign policy independent of the US.
Liu Xiaoming warned Boris Johnson “you cannot have a golden era if you treat China as an enemy”.
A ban on Huawei would have many consequences, Mr Liu said, including damage to the UK’s reputation as “a business-friendly, open, transparent environment”.
Economists at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) have warned GDP could fall by up to 0.75% and inflation rise by up to 0.6% if kicking the Chinese company out of the UK prompted a wider trade conflict with Beijing.
In January, Boris Johnson gave the green light for Huawei to be included in the network but said ti would be kept out of the sensitive core of the 5G network and limited to 35% market share of its other parts.
But deteriorating relationships with Beijing, in the wake of coronavirus and tensions over the future of Hong Kong, combined with relentless pressure from the USA and Conservative backbenchers led to Ministers relenting.
US officials have claimed China could use the firm as a gateway to “spy, steal or attack” the UK – putting transatlantic intelilgence sharing at risk.
Huawei has strenuously and repeatedly denied this accusation.
But limiting Huawei’s role in the network will be expensive and potentially cause serious delays to the rollout of 5G in the UK.
On top of that, the cost of Huawei’s European based rivals is higher and there are questions about their capacity to produce the scale of equipment needed.
Replacing Huawei’s 5G equipment will often involve simultaneously swapping out its 4G base stations and antennas.
BT’s chief exec yesterday said it would be “impossible” to remove Huawei from the whole of the UK’s telecoms infrastructure before 2030 and doing so could create outages.
“If you were to try and not have Huawei at all [in 5G] ideally we’d want seven years and we could probably do it in five,” BT’s chief executive Philip Jansen told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“If you wanted to have no Huawei in the whole of the telecoms infrastructure across the whole of the UK, I think that’s impossible to do in under 10 years.”