Britain To Ban Huawei 5G Equipment Installation From September

Huawei being a global telecom equipment and services provider is being restricted in the west, the Chinese giant had been under immense pressure for the last few years due to security concerns. There’s been no shortage of scrutiny of the Chinese telecom giant in recent years, and countries like the UK have banned the use of its equipment as their 5G networks develop. Its phones are also virtually invisible in the US, despite its massive presence around the world.

The company’s chairman had predicted that 2020 would be “difficult” for Huawei, and there certainly have been challenges. The US continues to pressure allies to block Huawei from their next-generation 5G wireless networks. In July, the UK opted to ban Huawei from its 5G infrastructure: The company’s equipment must be removed by 2027 — a decision that Huawei found “disappointing” as 5G becomes increasingly mainstream — and UK carriers will be unable to install Huawei 5G gear starting in September 2021, Bloomberg reports.

The core issue with Huawei has been concerned about its coziness with the Chinese government and fears that its equipment could be used to spy on other countries and companies. It’s the reason why the US banned companies from using Huawei networking equipment in 2012 and why the company was added to the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List in May 2019, following an executive order from President Donald Trump effectively banning Huawei from US communications networks.

A year later, Trump extended the order until 2021. The US initially offered a reprieve to companies, allowing them to work with Huawei through a temporary general license, but the Commerce Department accused the company of exploiting the rules to continue using American technology in its semiconductor design. It tightened those rules in August 2020 and said the temporary general license wouldn’t be extended further. Huawei on the other hand has been continuously denying any wrongdoing and also invited global authorities to visit its office for any probable investigations.