Huawei has just suffered a devastating blow by the UK government. After a meeting today by the National Security Council, the UK government has decided to ban the Chinese company from its 5G networks.
The meeting which was chaired by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, arrived at the decision to have Huawei’s technology removed from its 5G networks latest by the end of 2027. The purchase of Huawei equipment has also been banned after December 31, 2020.
A press statement said the decision was influenced by recent sanctions issued by the US which will affect Huawei’s supply and block access to technology their products are currently based on. The technical experts of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) said the US sanctions will force Huawei to reconfigure its supply chain and that they (the UK) do not have sufficient confidence in any of Huawei’s alternatives.
They also added that the “new restrictions make it impossible to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future”. These led to the agreement that UK operators stop purchasing Huawei equipment and that their technology is replaced latest by 2027.
Below is a summary of the UK’s Digital Secretary points from the meeting:
- 5G will be transformative for our country, but only if we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon
- Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks.
- No new kit is to be added from January 2021, and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK.
- By the time of the next election, we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks.
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(Source)
