FEARS GROW OVER SHIFT TO 5G
for one supplier to dominate the infrastructure.
“The blast radius is limited,” said one network executive. Another said that to do “real damage” Huawei would have to be able to access the core of the mobile network — such as the “home subscribe server” databases that contain user information.
BT has long said that there is no Huawei kit in its core network but, as reported by the Financial Times, it is in the process of ripping out Huawei equipment from the core of EE’s 4G network that it inherited when it bought the network in 2016.
Mr. Verwaayen does not regret handing the contract to the Chinese. “Not at all. We didn’t go in blind,” said Mr. Verwaayen, who is now on the board of Ofcom, which is leading an audit of the national telecoms networks.
He insisted that the deal kept Huawei’s equipment on the periphery of the network and was signed off by Britain’s security services at the time. BT also insisted that the code for the equipment sold to BT should be held in escrow so that the telecoms company could not be frozen out of its equipment should AngloChinese relations sour.
The recent fears over Huawei revolve around the shift to 5G, and fears that the Chinese company will have more power as more and more devices become connected to the network.
Neil McRae, BT’s chief network architect, told delegates at a Huawei-sponsored event in London last month that the Chinese company was leading the way on 5G. “In reality there’s only one true 5G supplier and that is Huawei,” he said. “The others need to catch up.”
Telecoms engineers say Huawei has taken the lead in 5G development, with its “army” of 80,000 research engineers and $13-billion annual research and development budget.
Network executives have also balked at the potential cost of banning Huawei from bidding for 5G contracts, which would require telecoms companies to replace existing 4G equipment to overlay alternative 5G kit. “Who is paying for that?” asked one network executive.
Others have pointed out that with Huawei so deeply saturated in the existing telecoms networks, simply barring the supplier from 5G would not eliminate its presence.
“You have a problem now. You can’t just dream them away,” said one senior industry source. “It bleeds down into a network that is already there.”