UK launches new telecom strategy to tackle Huawei dominance

LONDON: Telecom companies must stop installing Huawei equipment in the UK’s 5G mobile networks from September 2021, the government said on Monday as it launched a new diversification strategy for the complete removal of “high-risk” vendor equipment from the country’s next generation telecom infrastructure.

The GBP 250-million ‘5G Diversification Strategy’ aims at ‘zero’ use of such material by 2027. It is timed with the new Telecommunications (Security) Bill coming up for its second reading in Parliament this week and follows an announcement that operators should stop procuring new Huawei equipment from the end of this year in the wake of US sanctions against the Chinese telecom giant earlier in the year.