The UK decides Huawei to play limited role in building 5G networks

The government of the United Kingdom has permitted Huawei to continue in building the 5G networks with limitations in the country despite pressure from the US to block Huawei.

Huawei will remain sided from supplying kit to “sensitive parts” of the network, known as the core and also from the areas close to the military bases and nuclear sites. It will be allowed to account for 35% of the kit in a network’s periphery that includes radio masts.

Three out of four of the mobile network providers in the country had already decided to use and deploy Huawei’s 5G equipment outside the core in the “periphery” and Vodafone, EE will now have to reduce their reliance on the supplier as per the new notice.

According to a government report published in June 2019, the Shenzhen-based firm holds 45% of the share in the UK market while the remaining 55% belongs to Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, and ZTE (China state-owned company).

“We want world-class connectivity as soon as possible but this must not be at the expense of our national security, High-risk vendors never have been and never will be in our most sensitive networks,” said Britain’s digital secretary Baroness Morgan.