Banning Huawei ‘would have cost £120bn and delayed new network by three years’
Johnson decided to go down the same path as Theresa May, despite objections from some senior ministers.
Security sources said that despite public threats of intelligence-sharing being compromised, in private none of Britain’s allies had suggested cooperation would be downgraded.
Mr Johnson decided the risk of China using Huawei as a backdoor means to spy on Britain could be mitigated by tight controls on the privatelyowned firm, such as banning its involvement in the “core” of 5G – the data and voice handling software.
In addition, Huawei would be banned from building masts which could cover “sensitive sites” such as military bases or nuclear sites, and it would not be allowed more than 35 per cent of the masts, base stations, population coverage or data flow. The controls will be enshrined in a law due to come into force in three years’ time.
Mr Johnson believed the economic cost of banning Huawei was too high, as advisers said it would put 5G back by three years and cost the UK more than £120billion in lost productivity.
No10 blamed the crisis on “market failure” and said it had little choice but to include Huawei because it was one of only three companies that offered the necessary technology in the UK.
Tom Cotton, the Republican senator for Arkansas, said: “Allowing Huawei to build the UK’S 5G networks today is like allowing the KGB to build its telephone network during the Cold War. The Communist Party of China will now have a foothold to conduct pervasive espionage on British society and has increased economic and political leverage over the UK.”
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister wants UK consumers and businesses to benefit from world-class connectivity. This would never be at the expense of our national security.” Any delay to the roll-out of 5G would also have prevented the Government from meeting its target of giving the whole country superfast broadband by 2025.