When we talk about Huawei, we often talk about its consumer electronics, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. But, the company is also one of the world’s largest telecommunication hardware manufacturers. Huawei produces communication infrastructure equipment for various countries, including China. However, the embargo limiting access to Google services also had an impact here. Several countries in North America and Europe prohibited the use of Huawei equipment in critical infrastructure, demanding their removal by a specific deadline. However, British Telecoms (BT Group) missed the deadline. Here are the details…
BT’s Huawei Kit Removal Delay Sparks Concern
BT Group or formerly known as British Telecom, is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United Kingdom, with a market share of nearly 50%. However, the company is currently in trouble due to Huawei. Constructing a massive infrastructure, is not an easy task, especially when it involves billions of dollars’ worth of equipment. That’s why in 2020, the UK announced a deadline of December 31, 2023, for telecom companies in the country to remove Huawei kits. However, BT either couldn’t meet this deadline or intentionally chose not to do.
According to the latest reports from our colleague TechRadar, this isn’t actually a very important matter. Because the company claims that all Huawei’s 4G and 5G data equipment has been completely removed from the country, covering 99% of mobile data traffic. The remaining 1% handles 2G and 3G connections. The decision not to replace these components isn’t necessarily a defense of Huawei but primarily driven by commercial considerations.
In te UK, major mobile network companies are set to close their 3G networks by 2024-2025. Based on this, we can say that BT chose not to upgrade the infrastructure for these networks deliberately. The company might not have wanted to spend billions of dollars within just a few years on equipment that would become obsolete. Paying a penalty imposed by the UK is likely to be much cheaper instead. Unfortunately, whatever the reason Huawei will be completely erased from a market it once played a significant role in 1-2 years.
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