UK brings Huawei ban forward
November 30, 2020
The UK government has ruled that telecoms providers must stop installing Huawei equipment in the UK’s 5G mobile network from September 2021.
The announcement comes ahead of a new law to be revealed on December 1st, ultimately banning the Chinese firm from the network. DCMS Secretary Oliver Dowden said he was pushing for the “complete removal of high-risk vendors” from 5G networks.
The revised deadline comes earlier than expected, although maintaining old equipment will still be permitted. Networks will now have to adjust their schedules for deployment of the reserves of Huawei 5G kit they have built up.
Previously, BT’s EE division, Vodafone and Three UK would have had until 2027 to install any such equipment acquired before the end of this year – when a purchase ban comes into effect.