British carriers are going to ban all Huawei equipment from their 5g networks. Existing equipment will be phased out and replaced by the end of 2027, and new equipment will be banned. This happens in connection with the sanctions of the American government.
The British House of Commons agreed today a law that prohibits the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks. All Huawei equipment must be replaced by alternatives by the end of 2027. No new company equipment may be purchased after December 31, 2020. The ban on Huawei use in core parts of networks remains in place.
The House of Commons follows the advice of the National Cyber Security Center in the country. That investigated the consequences of the US sanctions for Huawei. Those sanctions would force Huawei to use equipment in which the NCSC and the National Security Council ‘have no confidence’ when it comes to security. “The new restrictions make it impossible to guarantee the safety of Huawei equipment in the future,” the government writes.
The government then decided that Huawei equipment should be replaced not only in 5G networks, but also at fiber optic providers. However, the UK has been working on making those providers less dependent on a single supplier for some time. Further research is being done into the timeline to replace equipment for those providers, but the government expects this to take ‘no more than two years’.
The timeline from now to 2027 is partly based on the wishes of the providers themselves. Earlier, BT and Vodafone said they needed five years to phase out the equipment on the networks. It has also been rumored that the country’s security forces wanted to ban Huawei equipment.
The decision comes a few months after Minister Boris Johnson stated that Huawei could still participate in building the 5g network. Digital Affairs Minister Oliver Dowden says the new decision will delay the rollout of the 5g network in the country by two to three years. The government says nothing about the costs, but they are expected to amount to billions.