This archive report was first published on 15 July 2020.
Published on July 15, 2020, Britain's Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden announced a ban on Huawei 5G equipment in the country's telecom networks, citing national security concerns.
The ban, which comes into effect at the end of 2020, prohibits telecom operators from buying new Huawei 5G equipment for their networks. The UK government has given operators until 2027 to remove all existing Huawei 5G equipment from their networks.
According to Secretary Dowden, the ban will delay the UK's 5G rollout by 2-3 years and cost the country around £2 billion. He stated, 'The best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new affected Huawei equipment to build the UK's future 5G networks. To be clear, from the end of this year, Telecom operators must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei.'
The UK government will also pass the Telecom Security bill, making it illegal for telecoms to use Huawei's equipment for 5G. This move intensifies the country's earlier stance in January, which allowed the use of Huawei 5G equipment on a limited basis.
As a result of the ban, other players such as Ericsson and Nokia are expected to take over efforts to push 5G in the UK. Ericsson and Nokia have issued statements showing their readiness to scale 5G efforts in the country.
However, there are concerns that Ericsson and Nokia manufacture some of their 5G equipment in China. Ericsson has responded by stating that manufacturing in China does not affect its operations or impact the company.
