The United Kingdom Excludes Huawei From Its 5G Network

In the name of national security, the United Kingdom government Tuesday banned telecom operators from acquiring Huawei 5G technology from 2021.

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Besides, all the infrastructure provided so far by Huawei will be removed from British territory until 2027, the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Secretary Oliver Dowden said in a hearing before the House of Commons.

Dowden admitted that the exclusion of Huawei will slow down the development of the high-speed network in his country by up to three years and will increase the cost by US$ 2.5 billion.

In recent days, British operators such as Vodafone and BT have warned that removing Huawei equipment from UK networks will cost billions of pounds and can lead to signal cuts.

These companies' directors also mentioned that they needed at least five years to undertake the "total elimination" process.

The British government made that decision after receiving constant pressure from the United States, which maintains that the deals with Huawei expose countries to espionage and sabotage by the Chinese state.

According to the former chairman of the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) Dominic Grieve, Prime Minister Boris Johnson administration’s decision was influenced by pressure from allied governments.

“The truth is that it was never going to fly. The outcome was entirely predictable,” Grieve said, as reported by the local outlet Evening Standard.

Despite the sanctions that the U.S. President Donald Trump has fostered against China, Huawei continues to expand its influence globally.

As a consequence, in the first half of 2020, its annual revenue rose by 13.1 percent to about US$64.9 billion, with a net profit margin of 9.2 percent, according to Xinhua.