With the ban, the U.K. government has decided that Huawei will not be allowed to install any equipment for the 5G network from 2021. in addition, its existing equipment must be removed by 2027. This follows pressure from Donald Trump, in the context of the U.K. being keen to agree a trade deal with the U.S. as it finally leaves the European Union. The curio is that in January Britain gave permission to use Huawei technology; now the government has decided to switch some of the 5G equipment off again.
Huawei has reacted to the decision, stating it would not cause harm to any country, according to the BBC. The telecoms firm has also predicted the UK would now be pushed “into the digital slow lane”, with higher bills for consumers.
Commenting on the ban for Digital Journal is Michael Downs, Director of Telecom Security at Positive Technologies.
According to Downs: “The ongoing tug of war within the UK on Huawei’s involvement in its 5G networks has come to an end.”
Explaining what is happening, Downs says: “Although the government isn’t stripping Huawei’s equipment straight away, the phased approach will have a marked effect on the telecoms industry.” The impact upon UK based telecoms providers could be considerable, not least in terms of time and expenditure.
Downs looks at what this decision means for the future: “Long term the decision to exclude Huawei cannot be solved with a solution as idealistically simple as just swapping it for an alternative vendor immediately. There is also the additional cost of delaying deployments – companies have already gone through the process of testing 5G equipment from Huawei. This whole process will have to be started all over again.”
Overall, Downs says: “This will mean a more expensive network for the UK and a delay that could result in its national infrastructure being inferior compared to other countries”.
