Three-year delay to 5G after Huawei technology is banned
HIGH-SPEED 5G mobile networks for the UK have been delayed for up to three years and will cost billions extra after Westminster banned Huawei technology.
Boris Johnson’s government announced that the Chinese firm’s kit should be stripped from networks by 2027, and telecoms companies will not be able to buy 5G technology from Huawei after this year.
They will also be ordered to shift away from the purchase of Huawei’s equipment for full-fibre broadband networks over a period lasting up to two years.
The move is thought to increase tensions with Beijing, with concerns growing over possible repercussions, including cyber attacks.
However, the National Security Council took the decision at a meeting yesterday morning, chaired by the Prime Minister, after the impact of US sanctions raised concerns about Huawei’s continued involvement in the UK’S 5G infrastructure.
It signalled another U-turn for the Conservative Government, which gave Huawei restricted access to the country’s 5G mobile networks in January.
Previously, mobile networks were told to reduce the share of Huawei equipment in non-core parts of their infrastructure to a maximum of 35% by 2023.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told MPS of the decision in the House of Commons, acknowledging that the move could delay the rollout of 5G mobile networks by up to three years.
He said the cost could also increase by as much as £2bn. He
said: “Today’s decision to ban the procurement of new Huawei 5G equipment from the end of this year will delay rollout by a further year and will add up to half a billion pounds to costs.
“Requiring operators in addition to remove Huawei equipment from their 5G networks by 2027 will add hundreds of millions of pounds further to the cost and further delay rollout.
“This means a cumulative delay to 5G rollout of two to three years and costs of up to £2bn.”
Mr Dowden explained that by the time of the next election, the Government would have “implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks”.
SNP MP Stewart Mcdonald said that while he welcomed the decision, “as long as Huawei continues to have its tentacles in other key elements of public infrastructure and academia in our universities across the country – it is giving huge sums to outfits such as the London School of Economics – we still have an issue”.
John Nicolson MP, the SNP’S shadow culture spokesman, said the decision should have been taken earlier.
He said: “When we debated this in January, SNP members warned the Government that Huawei could not be trusted with our 5G mobile network.
“Security experts were clear: we should not open up the central nervous system of our modern society to a company owned by the Chinese Communist party.
“With that characteristic combination of error and overconfidence, the Foreign Secretary opined that I had got my analysis wrong “on all counts”, but it seems not.
“Of course it is right that Huawei should be banned from the UK’S mobile networks, but that is a decision that should have been taken long ago.
“As I said to the Foreign Secretary in January, had the Government acted in 2018 as the Australians did, our mobile operators’ 5G roll-out plans would have been in an infinitely healthier place.
“As it is, we will now pay the price for the Government’s ineptitude.”
Huawei said it was disappointed by the move and claimed decisions on its future in the UK had become politicised. Ed Brewster, a spokesman for Huawei UK, said: “This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide.
“Instead of ‘levelling up’ the Government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider.
“We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK.
“Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security. Over the past 20 years, Huawei has focused on building a better connected UK.
“As a responsible business, we will continue to support our customers as we have always done.
“We 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 connected Britain.”
Telecoms firms had previously said the decision would be hard for them to implement as they had already started putting 5G technology into their infrastructure.
Bt-owned EE, Three mobile and Vodafone said it would take at least five years to remove the technology, however the Government has given them until 2027 to do so.
A spokesman for BT said: “We note the Government’s announcement today relating to the use of Huawei equipment in the UK.
“The security and resilience of our networks is an absolute priority for BT.
“While we have prepared for a range of scenarios, we need to further analyse the details and implications of this decision before taking a view of potential costs and impact.”
Huawei’s European rivals, Ericsson and Nokia, said they stood ready to help network providers replace equipment from the Chinese firm.
Cormac Whelan, Nokia CEO, said: “We have the capacity and expertise to replace all of the Huawei equipment in the UK’S networks at scale and speed, and are ready to step up to support the implementation of the UK Government decision with minimal impact on the people using our customers’ networks.”
We will now pay the price for the Government’s ineptitude