All Huawei Equipment To Be Stripped From Britains 5G Network

British telecommunications firms are under order not to install new Huawei 5G kits after September 2021, the government said today. This forms part of a plan to purge the Chinese firm’s equipment from high-speed mobile networks.

Britain already made it an order to completely remove all Huawei equipment from its 5G networks by the end of 2027, falling in line with intelligence allies including the US who insist the firm poses security risks.

China has not taken the decision lightly. While Huawei said last week that it was disappointed, Britain was looking to exclude it from the 5G roll-out after the publication of new laws that could see firms fined £1 million if they break the ban.

“I am setting out a clear path for the complete removal of high-risk vendors from our 5G networks,” digital minister Oliver Dowden said in a statement. “This will be done through new and unprecedented powers to identify and ban telecoms equipment which poses a threat to our national security,” he concluded.

According to AP, “telecom operators were ordered to stop buying Huawei 5G equipment by the end of the year and have until 2027 to rip any of the company’s existing gear out of their systems.”

Britain said its July 2020 decision was related to concerns that US sanctions on-chip technology could affect supply lines. Huawei said at the time the decision was disappointing, and about US trade policy rather than security. The announcement that Huawei would be blocked from the 5G network is a major U-turn half a year after the government gave Huawei the green light to be involved.