UK government thinks it’s not necessary to ban Huawei from their 5G networks

The UK is one of the US government’s closest allies. Both countries have worked and cooperated with each other on various issues in the past, and have also stood by each other in their decisions, but more recently it seems that there is at least one thing that the UK government doesn’t agree with the US completely: the banning of the use of Huawei’s communications equipment.

According to the Financial Times’ sources, they claim that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has found that there is no need to remove Huawei’s equipment from their communications infrastructure. This is because they found that they will be able to limit the risk of any potential security threats within Huawei’s equipment by either purchasing more from other suppliers and also to restrict parts of its 5G network.

This is a contrast to what the US government has opted to do, which is to ban the use of Huawei’s equipment completely. Various US allies such as Australia, New Zealand, and Japan are looking to ban the use of Huawei’s equipment, while Canadian carriers are mulling over the idea of whether or not they should remove existing Huawei equipment which could prove to be an expensive exercise.

Huawei has insisted multiple times in the past that they do not spy on behalf of the Chinese government. It is unclear if these decisions made by the US government is part of their strategy in their trade war against China, or if there really is a basis for their fears. In the meantime, Huawei’s competitors such as Samsung has been reported to be looking to capitalize on Huawei’s predicament.

Source: Financial Times (paywall; via Engadget)