BT asks for time to strip Huawei kit from network

BT HAS asked the Government for more time to strip Huawei equipment out of its phone networks, saying supply chain disruption means it risks missing a looming deadline.

Ministers have set a deadline of January 2023 for Huawei equipment to be stripped out of the core of Britain’s telephone networks, following national security fears that the Chinese business could use its privileged access to spy on UK communications.

Howard Watson, the telecommunication company’s chief technical officer, said the effects of the pandemic on global supply chains meant it was taking longer than hoped to replace the infrastructure. “Not interrupting service for customers is the critical requirement here,” he said.

A BT spokesman acknowledged Mr Watson’s remarks, made in an interview with Bloomberg, and said the one-time state monopoly has “requested a necessary, short extension, to reflect significant Covid-driven impacts to the programme over the past two years”.

All Huawei equipment must be removed from British phone networks by 2027 but the 2023 deadline relates to the “core” of phone networks.

The ejection of Huawei from Britain’s networks, a decision made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in 2020, was closely associated with pressure from Donald Trump’s administration.

Huawei has consistently denied formal links with China’s rulers or of acting as a proxy for the Chinese state, though founder and president Ren Zhengfei is a member of its Communist Party.

Although most closely associated with the 5G mobile network rollout in recent years, Huawei has long been one of the main suppliers to Britain’s mobile network operators. These companies – Vodafone, Three, BT (formerly EE) and O2 – build and maintain the web of masts, cables and signalling infrastructure behind Britain’s network. Its core is comparable to a postal sorting office, routing calls, messages and internet traffic between users. Very few companies supply the technology. Huawei’s rivals include Ericsson and Nokia.

Government efforts to encourage an alternative called OPENRAN, which is not bound to any single supplier, have proceeded slowly. This year Vodafone powered on a 5G OPENRAN mobile mast in Bath.

Huawei declined to comment. A DCMS spokesman said BT was one of the companies consulted about the proposals to control the use of Huawei in UK networks, adding: “We’re considering all the responses received and will publish our decision in due course.”