The UK government today announced a ban on Huawei equipment on 5G wireless networks, along with a plan to urge Internet providers to stop buying Huawei equipment. The UK government’s announcement said the US sanctions imposed in May greatly influenced the decision, which was “made today at a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) chaired by the Prime Minister [Boris Johnson]”
“Following the US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided that it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks,” said British digital secretary Oliver Dowden in the announcement. A New York Times report called today’s announcement in the United Kingdom “a victory for the Trump administration and a reversal of an earlier decision highlighting how technology has taken center stage in deepening the divide between the powers. Western and China. “
Under the new rules, the UK said “buy new Huawei 5G equipment [is] banned after December 31, 2020 “and that” Huawei will be completely phased out of UK 5G networks by the end of 2027. “Today’s announcement expands on an earlier ban that applies to” core “parts more sensitive 5G network[s]”said the UK.
While there is no corresponding ban on Huawei equipment on home broadband networks, the UK said it is “advising full-fiber operators to abandon the purchase of new Huawei equipment” and recommended a two-year transition o less. The UK government said it is taking this more forgiving approach to wired networks because “the UK has managed Huawei’s presence on UK fixed access networks since 2005 and we must also avoid a situation where operators broadband companies depend on a single provider for their equipment. ” “
“This approach strikes the right balance by recognizing the established presence of full fiber and supporting connections that the public trusts, while fully addressing the security concerns of our leading global experts,” the UK said.
Apparently, 4G and older wireless networks will still be able to use Huawei equipment. Dowden said in a statement to the House of Commons today that “we will need to take a different approach to whole fiber and older networks, one that recognizes that they are different from 5G in terms of their technology, their security and the providers they support. they.” As the NYT wrote, “The latest British security assessment has concluded that Huawei’s role in legacy 2G, 3G, and 4G networks did not need to be eliminated, and the government is not trying to discourage consumers from using Huawei products.”
A Huawei spokesperson told Ars that the ban “threatens to take Britain into the digital slow line, raise bills and deepen the digital divide.” The decision “is about America’s trade policy and not security,” Huawei said.
Impact of US sanctions
The United Kingdom explained that the United States sanctions against Huawei “removed[ed] the company’s access to products that have been built on the basis of United States semiconductor technology. “The United Kingdom said its technical experts at the National Center for Cyber Security (NCSC)” reviewed the consequences of the sanctions and concluded [that Huawei] You will have to undergo a major reconfiguration of your supply chain as you will no longer have access to the technology it is currently based on and there are no alternatives that we have sufficient confidence in. They found that the new restrictions make it impossible to continue to guarantee the safety of Huawei equipment in the future. “
Dowden said that even before the US sanctions, UK officials “have had a clear view from the start that Chinese property sellers Huawei and ZTE were considered high risk.” High-risk providers who “pose increased security and resilience risks to UK networks” should be kept “out of the core of the network and away from infrastructure and critical sites,” Dowden said.
Huawei denied that US sanctions prevent it from offering secure technology. “We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or safety of the products we supply to the UK,” the Huawei statement to Ars said. Huawei urged the UK to reconsider the ban and said the company “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 Britain. connected. “
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission banned Huawei and ZTE equipment on projects paid for by the FCC’s Universal Service Fund (USF). The FCC ban went into effect on July 1 and prevents ISPs from using USF money to buy or maintain Huawei and ZTE equipment. Future actions by the United States may require the removal of old Huawei and ZTE equipment from these networks.
FCC President Ajit Pai has argued that Huawei and ZTE “have close ties to the Communist government and the Chinese military apparatus” and “are subject to Chinese law that generally forces them to cooperate with any request from the the country’s intelligence services and keep those requests secret. ” Huawei has said it has no secret access to phone networks and that the United States has not provided evidence of its claims.
Huawei sued the FCC to stop the USF ban, and reports from Huawei and the FCC were filed in court earlier this month.
