UK to ban telecom firms from installing Huawei 5G equipment from Sept 2021

The UK government on Monday announced that it will ban British telecommunication companies from installing new Huawei equipment in 5G networks, effective from September 2021.

Huawei will also be banned from outsourcing service management to the Shenzen firm from 2021 except in exceptional circumstances. This is part  of UK’s plan to phase out the Chinese tech giant’s 5G infrastructure.

“We are taking bold steps to implement one of the toughest telecoms security regimes in the world.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden in a statement said;

“A central part of that is combating high-risk vendors, and I have set out an unambiguous timetable for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks no later than 2027.

“This will be done through new and unprecedented powers to identify and ban telecom equipment which poses a threat to our national security”.

The Minister’s new deadline comes ahead of a debate on the Telecommunications (Security) Bill in parliament on Monday.

The government on Monday also announced its strategy to diversify the 5G supply chain, consisting of an initial £250 million investment, trials in collaboration with Japanese firm NEC and the establishment of new research facilities.