Britain is a key battleground in the geopolitical tug-of-war over Huawei.
A final decision on how to deploy Huawei equipment in 5G has been made. Amid allegations that the Chinese equipment could expose our crucial national infrastructure to the risk of espionage and US threats to withhold crucial security intelligence, Huawei was classified as a “High-Risk Vendor” subject to an unsurprising 35% cap on access to non-sensitive parts of the network.
At what can only be viewed as a window dressing meeting of the National Security Council, ministers determined that UK operators should put in place additional safeguards and exclude high-risk vendors from all safety-related networks in Critical National Infrastructure, from the sensitive “core” functions of the network and sensitive geographic locations, such as nuclear sites and military bases, very much in line with the status quo.
Huawei’s vice-president, said: “Huawei is reassured by the UK government’s confirmation that we can continue working with our customers to keep the 5G rollout on track.”
Fierce backlash from the US is expected, which has blocked the involvement of Huawei in its networks and encouraged its allies to follow suit.
Hughes will continue to support 5G deployment across the UK through our next day service of Frequency Optimised Jumpers, fibre and advanced passive technology, come what may.