UK reportedly aims to drop Huawei from 5G networks in 3 years
The UK’s decision to allow Huawei gear in its 5G networks
may be short-lived. Officials talking to the Financial Times (via The Verge)
say the UK government is planning to gradually phase out use of Huawei
equipment in 5G networks, eliminating it entirely in 2023. According to the
Daily Telegraph, which first broke the story, Prime Minister Boris Johnson
always had “serious concerns” about allowing Huawei’s involvement, and they’ve
been exacerbated by the pandemic.
Huawei’s Victor Zhang told the FT that the reports “simply
don’t make sense” and argued that the UK chose to allow Huawei because it
needed the “best possible technologies, more choice, innovation and more
suppliers.”
Such a move would please the current US government, which
has insisted that Huawei could serve as a conduit for Chinese surveillance.
However, it could also prove to be a serious headache for both UK telecoms and
the government. BT, for instance, estimated the cost of honoring the existing
35 percent cap on Huawei would cost about £500 million. It might cost more to
drop Huawei entirely, and there are concerns the effort involved could stall
the UK’s plans to bring fiber internet access to every home. Whether or not
that’s ultimately the case, Huawei clearly can’t expect to play a large role in
key Western 5G rollouts.
Comments
Post a Comment