Boris Johnson to reduce Huawei’s role in national 5G network

UK Government will reduce the presence of the equipment manufactured by Chinese Huawei in its 5G network in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

UK Government will reduce the presence of the equipment manufactured by the Chinese tech firm Huawei in its 5G network in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak.

Early this year, the UK Government agreed on the involvement of Huawei in the national 5G network, while the United States expressed its disappointment for the Johnson decision and threatened to limit intelligence sharing with the ally. 

“The Prime Minister plans to reduce Huawei’s involvement in Britain’s 5G network in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Telegraph has learned.” reported The Telegraph.

“Boris Johnson has instructed officials to draw up plans that would see China’s involvement in the UK’s infrastructure scaled down to zero by 2023.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tacked officials to draft plans that would define the way Chinese firms will be involved in Britain’s infrastructure end by 2023.

Next month Mr Johnson will visit the US to participate at the G7 summit, he aims at confirming that the UK jhas reduced its dependecy from the China provisioning of 5G network equipment, a circumstance that could ramp up trade talks with US President Donald Trump.

In January, the EU’s executive Commission presented a set of rules and technical measures aimed at reducing cybersecurity risks from the adoption of 5G. The Commission’s recommendations included blocking high-risk equipment suppliers from “critical and sensitive” components of 5G infrastructures, such as the core.

The EU’s executive Commission did not explicitly mention companies, but a clear reference is to the Chinese firm Huawei.

In January, the British Government also agreed to assign a limited role for Huawei in the country’s 5G network, but highlighted that “high-risk vendors” would be excluded from the building of “sensitive” core infrastructure.

US Government continues to push hard for countries to ban Chinese companies from building their next-generation 5G network, claiming Chinese equipment can be exploited by the Chinese government for cyber espionage.

MPs in Johnson’s party doesn’t agree with the involvement of Huawei in building 5G network.

“He has taken a great many soundings from his own MPs on this issue and shares their serious concerns. The deal was struck before the pandemic hit but coronavirus has changed everything,” an unnamed source told The Telegraph.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – 5G, hacking)

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