UK to grant Huawei limited role in UK 5G roll out

Government sources indicate that Huawei's role in the UK's 5G networks will be limited to the periphery

Huawei should be granted a limited role in the UK's 5G network roll-out. That is the recommendation made to senior officials following government departmental meetings on Wednesday.

The recommendation has been made ahead of a meeting of the National Security Council next week, according to anonymous sources cited by Reuters.

However, the company will be barred from the core of the network and government systems. The decision will mirror a provisional decision made in mid-2019 by the-then Prime Minister Theresa May.

"The technical and policy guidance hasn't changed. Now it is down to a political calculation," the source told Reuters.

That means that while Huawei will be able to supply equipment on the edge of the network, such as base stations and antenna, it won't be able to bid for contracts to provide 5G network routers, for example.

The move has been made over fears that Huawei could be compelled by China's government to use its privileged position at the heart of 5G networks to conduct espionage. The pressure has been largely exerted by the US, with Australia and New Zealand already operating non-vendor specific blocks that effectively bar Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE.

Operators in the UK have already started building out their 5G networks, with Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three already running limited networks. Their core 5G networks are based on hardware from either Nokia or Ericsson.

For example, Three's main core network vendor remains Nokia, which also supplied its 3G networking equipment when the company was first established just over 15 years ago. The company has recently upgraded its core network with all-Nokia equipment. Vodafone, meanwhile, relies on Ericsson network hardware.

Huawei, meanwhile, is not expected to be barred from supplying radio-access network (RAN) technology, with Three opting for Huawei for both its 4G and 5G network, having shifted from Samsung RAN hardware.

Three involved the UK National Cyber Security Centre in its decision making, which will have been made in 2018 and 2019, indicating continuity rather than a revolutionary shift in the UK's policy and stance towards Huawei.