BT has been given a reprieve on a deadline to strip Huawei from its 5G network after warnings that accelerated efforts to rip out the Chinese kit could disrupt Britain’s telecoms network.
A deadline to remove critical telecoms equipment built by Chinese company Huawei has been delayed by 11 months.
Openreach, BT’s network arm, and other broadband providers originally had been expected to remove the Chinese hardware from their network “core” by January 2023, with the threat of fines if they failed.
That timeline has now been pushed back until December next year, following a consultation with mobile operators. The Government said it had sent legal notices formalizing the timetable to 35 mobile operators and networks.
BT, which had become heavily reliant on Huawei’s mobile technology for its next generation 5G and fiber deployments, had warned the January deadline was too tight and could risk “interrupting” its service.
The Government said it had been told by networks that the switch could cause “serious disruption to millions of customers”. The former state monopoly had said removing Huawei’s kit will cost it £500m.
In its response to the consultation, the Government said “some respondents stated that they would struggle to meet the deadline”. Network operators had warned that Covid and supply chain disruption had made it difficult to get the replacement parts needed. The Government said the delay provided a “sensible balance” against network disruption.
It said it had pushed back a deadline to reduce the amount of Huawei kit in Britain’s full fiber networks to 35pc by October next year. Removing kit from the core, essentially the nerve center of the network, will now not be required until December next year.
An overall deadline, to fully remove Huawei from public 5G networks by 2027, remains in place. Huawei kit must also be removed from sites of national security significance by the end of January 2023.
While multiple broadband and mobile networks had used some Huawei technology, BT had become particularly reliant on the Chinese company, originally picking it for its vast “21st century” network upgrade in 2004. It later chose Huawei as one of two suppliers for its 5G network .
But security concerns prompted by Huawei’s Chinese ownership have forced it to tear up this relationship. US officials have repeatedly warned that Huawei’s Chinese ownership makes it a national security risk and that Chinese national security laws mean its employees could be forced to spy on Britain.
US sanctions have also made it riskier to use Huawei kit, according to the National Cyber Security Center, part of GCHQ, making it harder for the company to access critical technology.
Along with its notice to network operators, the Government issued a “designated vendor direction” to Huawei. The direction warned that Chinese laws mean “Huawei’s employees” can be issued with orders by Beijing creating a risk that “covert and malicious functionality could be embedded in Huawei’s equipment”.
Huawei has always denied that its technology poses a national security risk. Its hardware is subject to strict national security reviews by the National Cyber Security Center, which has never found any malicious spyware in its technology.
Michelle Donelan, the Culture Secretary, said: “Thanks to this government’s tough new laws we can drive up the security of telecoms infrastructure and control the use of high-risk equipment.”
If mobile networks fail to meet their security obligations, they can be fined up to 10pc of their turnover, or £100,000 per day, by Ofcom.
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