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The UK government has so far resisted demands from the US that it ban Huawei from its 5G rollout plans
The UK government is set to make a final long-term decision on Huawei’s involvement in the country’s 5G mobile network rollout by autumn.
The country’s digital minister, Nicky Morgan, said that the government was still in the process of reviewing the situation but would make a long-term decision later in the year.
“We will make the right decision for the UK. I would hope we could do something by the autumn,” Morgan told BBC radio.
The UK government has repeatedly tried to avoid making a binding, long term decision, as the US continues to ramp up pressure on its allies to ban the Chinese tech giant.
“We’ve got to make sure that this is going to be a decision for the long term, making sure that we keep all our networks secure,” Morgan added.
Huawei works closely with all four of the UK’s mobile network operators and has been heavily involved in the country’s 5G rollout programme with EE, Vodafone and Three.
Huawei’s network equipment accounts for around 35 per cent of the country’s 4G network infrastructure.
President Trump has repeatedly levelled allegations at Huawei, stating that the company poses a risk to US national security. So far, the US has provided no evidence to substantiate these claims and has flip-flopped a number of times on the extent to which US companies will be allowed to continue doing business with Huawei. President Trump continues to use the campaign against Huawei to secure leverage in his trade negotiations with China.
So far, President Trump’s attempts to strong arm his allies into banning Huawei have not proved fruitful, with the UK, Germany and Italy all sticking with Huawei for their initial 5G launches.
Analysts have repeatedly suggested that banning Huawei from the UK would cost the country’s mobile network operators hundreds of millions of pounds and cost the country its leadership position on 5G.
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