Huawei could be banned from Britain’s 5G network

At the recent NATO Conference in Watford, attended by world leaders such as Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel, and Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson made an announcement regarding Britain’s new 5G plan which suggests that the Chinese company Huawei may be excluded.

In his statement regarding the 5G plan, the Prime Minister insisted that he did not want Britain to seem hostile towards overseas investment but was likewise unwilling to jeopardise the nation’s standing in the Five Eyes security partnership (between Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).

The reason that this relationship may be damaged, through Britain’s retention of Huawei, is down to US President Donald Trump’s banning of the mobile brand on the grounds that it is a security risk that could be covertly used to spy on Western nations, meaning that President Trump may not be as forthcoming with trade deals and information sharing if Britain were to incorporate the Chinese company into its 5G network.

Various telecommunications experts have expressed criticism of this move by the Prime Minister.

The Telecoms Cyber Security Expert at Positive Technologies, Jimmy Jones stated: “Despite the controversy around Huawei – reignited by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments yesterday – banning a telecoms vendor as major as Huawei in the launch of 5G would result in a massive cost for most countries.

“The reality is that Huawei is already embedded into the Telecom ecosystem, because many mobile network operators have already purchased or ordered Huawei technology. In UK’s case, many major operators are already using Huawei equipment.

“If the decision is made to exclude Huawei from the 5G network, this issue can’t be solved with a solution as idealistically simple as just swapping it for an alternative vendor immediately, especially as this would really require the retro fitting of previous mobile generations equipment as well.

“There is also the additional cost of delaying deployments, as companies are already testing 5G equipment, chosen Huawei, and are ready to buy. If Huawei is taken away as an option, this whole process – including testing – would have to be started all over again.

“Ultimately any country that does that is facing a more expensive network and a delay that could result on its national infrastructure being inferior compared to other countries, and therefore there economy less competitive.”

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