After months of resisting US scrutiny, Prime Minister Boris Johnson seemingly is planning to phase out the usage of Huawei equipment from UK 5G networks, the Financial Times reported. Referencing national security concerns, members of the UK Conservative Party have pressed for the removal of Huawei technology from the UK’s 5G infrastructure and the rest of its telecommunications network by 2023.
The Trump administration banned the use of Huawei’s technology for governmental purposes after many concerns rose regarding national security, and last May, the president signed an executive order blocking U.S. companies from buying foreign-made telecommunications equipment that could present national security risks.
The U.S. has claimed that Huawei could establish network infrastructure backdoors, allegedly to facilitate Chinese government surveillance activities, an accusation that Huawei has refuted many times.
Boris Johnson also restricted how often Huawei technology could be used in UK 5G networks, prohibiting the usage of the company’s technology in the network’s most important areas. He said there were not many other options available for the UK’s 5G infrastructure in January with Vodafone saying that withdrawing Huawei equipment from its 5G networks would be incredibly costly.
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