The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has banned buying new Huawei 5G equipment and all the telecoms business in the UK will remove the Huawei 5G kits from their network by 2027.
The decision came after US sanctions as they claimed that Huawei 5G product is a national security threat. After immense pressure from US President Donald Trump and Tory MPs, Boris caved in and made the decision regarding choosing sides. And in the 5G race UK decided to be a companion of the United States.
Oliver Dowden the UK Digital Minister told parliament the new policy will bar telecom operators from buying 5G kit from Huawei and ZTE to install in new network builds from the end of this year. While any already installed kits in UK 5G networks will be removed by 2027.
While addressing the parliament Oliver Dowden said “taking this decision was not easy, but it is the right and beneficial for country’s telecoms operators, for our national security, economically and for the long run. Before the next election, we will have implemented in law an unalterable path for the complete exclusion of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks.”
This U-turn by the UK government to bar Huawei 5G is a very significant change of government policy as in January Boris Johnson’s government expressed confidence it could manage any risk associated with Chinese vendors even with their deep links to the Chinese state.
Huawei Spying through 5G
According to the United States, Huawei has strong ties with the Chinese government and the People’s Liberation Army and the equipment is co-opt for spying purposes.
However, Huawei denied the allegations made by the United States administration and claimed there is no spying being done through Huawei 5G equipment. The Huawei had also offered to sign “no spy” agreements with governments around the world.
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