First America, now the UK – reports say that England prime minister Boris Johnson has been begun the process of banning all Huawei equipment from the UK’s 5G development pipeline by 2027, citing national security concerns as the reason.
That’s exactly the same reason why the US have banned the Chinese company too – that’s two global powerhouses now giving Huawei the side-eye. According to Bloomberg, the ban imposed by the UK stems from a strategy of risk management – the risk apparently being the Chinese government using Huawei’s equipment to spy on the nation.
Image credit: New York Times
Because of that, China has openly fired back at the Johnson administration’s “groundless” ban. BBC quotes China’s ambassador Liu Xiaoming as saying the decision was “not only disappointing, it’s disheartening”; he then followed that by saying “the way you treat Huawei will be followed closely by other Chinese businesses”. This suggests that more Chinese companies may pull out of the UK after this ban in.
Image credit: Cnet
Interestingly, UK’s decision makers are well aware of the repercussions of the ban, which includes a cumulative cost of £2bn, plus the rollout of 5G technology would be delayed by two to three years – that’s a hefty sum to pay considering the UK wants to be right up there with its peers in 5G adoption; but seeing as they’re willing to bear the costs for the reasons cited before, could there be some sliver of truth to claims of China spying on countries using Huawei’s equipment?
What do you think – could more countries soon decide to ban Huawei too? Let us know in the comments!
