The logo of the Chinese company Huawei at its UK headquarters in Reading, west London, on January 28, 2020.
Daniel Leal-Olivas | AFP via Getty Images
The UK has announced that it will ban Huawei from its 5G networks, in a significant government twist that could significantly affect relations with China while appeasing the United States.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said mobile network operators in the country would be forced to stop buying Huawei equipment by the end of the year. They will also be required to remove Huawei equipment from their infrastructure by 2027.
It’s a major change for the UK, which in January gave Huawei restricted access to the country’s next-generation mobile networks. Under the above guidelines, mobile network operators were to reduce Huawei’s kit share in non-core parts of their infrastructure to 35% by 2023.
But that decision was complicated by new sanctions imposed on Huawei by the United States in May. These restrictions mean that the Chinese company will no longer be able to obtain key chip equipment from trusted US suppliers. The UK’s National Cyber Security Center launched an emergency review of Huawei shortly after the US restrictions were introduced.
Tuesday’s decision is a blow to Huawei, which had been boosting its UK investment with a new research and development center in Cambridge, England, and a boost for developers earlier this year to help it build an alternative. to Google Play app store. Huawei was banned from licensed Google software last year due to U.S. trade measures.
US authorities have warned of national security concerns surrounding Huawei for years, amid concerns that the Chinese provider’s team could allow Beijing to spy on sensitive communications. Huawei has frequently denied such claims, insisting that it is independent of the Chinese government.
However, President Donald Trump’s administration has urged “Five Eyes” allies, which include Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, to block Huawei from its 5G networks as a result. While Australia went ahead with a ban in 2018, other members of the alliance, with the exception of the United Kingdom, have not yet taken such a move.
Shenzhen-based Huawei is the world’s leading manufacturer of telecommunications equipment. But it has been embroiled in a tense geopolitical dispute between the United States and China. More recently, that battle appears to have expanded to include Internet services, with Washington threatening to ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok last week.
Huawei reported its slowest first-half revenue growth in seven years on Tuesday as the company continued to grapple with the impact of U.S. sanctions and the global coronavirus pandemic. The company reported revenue of 454 billion yuan or $ 64.23 billion in the first six months of the year, 13.1% more than the previous year.
Tuesday’s move will inevitably affect Britain’s cell phone operators. Three of the country’s leading mobile network providers, EE, Vodafone and BT-owned Three, have already implemented 5G in their infrastructure. Vodafone and BT executives said last week that it would take at least five years to exchange Huawei’s telecom kit for another from another provider.
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