UK excludes Huawei from 5G networks by 2027

Boris Johnson has decided to ban Huawei from 5G network development, but has given 7 years to completely remove the presence of the company in Beijing.

It’s an expected decision, but it won’t go down well for many in the Conservative Party: because Boris Johnson has decided to ban the Chinese of Huawei from the development of the British 5G networks, but has given himself seven years of time to completely remove the presence of the company in Beijing, charged with intelligence ties from the London telecommunications network.

Huawei 5G kit must be removed from UK by 2027

The Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden, announced in Parliament that from 1 January next it will be forbidden to buy new 5G technology from Huawei, but the Chinese will be permanently removed only by the end of 2027. In a letter sent to Johnson on the eve of the announcement, ten Conservative Mps warned of «unreasonable delays» and former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called the seven-year period «unacceptable».

«By the next elections (which are scheduled for the end of 2024) – said Minister Dowden – we will have implemented by law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei from our 5G networks». But these are words that will hardly appease the internal frond of the conservatives, where the lobby of the anti-cinesi «hawks» has been particularly strengthened in recent times, calling for drastic actions. Also because the government has not even set a timetable to exclude the presence of Huawei from 3G and 4G.

The US sanctions

The British decision comes on the wave of sanctions imposed by the United States in May against the Chinese company: at first Johnson had seemed to want to disengage from the position of Donald Trump, but eventually preferred to align with Washington, after many British experts also pointed out the risks of the presence of a company closely linked to the Beijing regime within a strategic infrastructure such as telecommunications of the latest generation.

The ban on Huawei accompanies other actions in London that indicate a hardening position towards China: UK intends to deploy in the Far East the new aircraft carrier Queen Elisabeth, with a clear deterrent to Beijing’s territorial expansionism. And this as concern grows in Britain for the Chinese economic and cultural penetration, especially in the university.