The government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review set out plans to implement one of the toughest regimes in the world for telecoms security. It proposed that all operators would be required by law to raise security standards and that the government be given new powers to allow it to respond as technology and risks change.
New US sanctions threaten Huawei’s supply chain and the company’s ability to support UK operators, making it nearly impossible to assure Huawei’s long-term resilience in UK 5G networks.
World-leading experts at the National Cyber Security Centre have conducted a thorough review of the US action and what this means for the UK. The government agrees with the NCSC’s advice: the best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new Huawei equipment to build the UK's future 5G networks.
They concluded that the best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new Huawei equipment to build the UK's future 5G networks. As a result, from the end of 2020 telecoms operators must not buy any new 5G equipment from Huawei, and once the Telecoms Security Bill is passed it will be illegal to do so. Ministers have also committed to a timetable for the removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G network by 2027.
Given there is only one other appropriate scale vendor for full fibre equipment, The Government are embarking on a short technical consultation with operators to understand their supply chain alternatives, so that unnecessary delays to our gigabit ambitions can be avoided and prevent significant resilience risks. The technical consultation will determine the nature of our rigorous approach to Huawei outside of 5G networks