Friday 07 June 2019 12:39 pm

MPs to question Huawei as part of investigation into 5G security risks

While commercially successful and a dominant player in 5G, or fifth-generation networking technology, Huawei has faced political headwinds and allegations that its equipment includes so-called backdoors that the U.S. government perceives as a national security. U.S. authorities are also seeking the extradition of Huaweis Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, to stand trial in the U.S. on fraud charges. Meng is currently under house arrest in Canada, though Huawei maintains the U.S. case against her is purely political. Despite the U.S. campaign against the company, Huawei is determined to lead the global charge toward adopting 5G wireless networks. It has hired experts from foreign rivals, and invested heavily in R&D to patent key technologies to boost Chinese influence. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

MPs are set to question Huawei on Monday as part of an investigation into the security risks that the Chinese telecom giants could pose to the UK.

A leak in April from the National Security Council meeting revealed that Theresa May had approved Huawei’s bid to help build Britain’s 5G network, despite the USA’s claims that it could be used for espionage and should be banned.

As a result, the science and technology committee are conducting an inquiry into the potential dangers of using Huawei’s equipment for the next generation of mobile network.

The government has denied that any decision has been made on using the Chinese company to help build the UK’s networks, although Gavin Williamson was sacked as defence secretary in the wake of the leak last month.

Chief technology officers from three of the UK’s biggest mobile networks will be present at the meeting on Monday too.

They will come from O2, Three and Vodafone, with the former two already being exposed to Huawei’s equipment.

The director of policy and public affairs of the BT Group will also be in attendance, though they are yet to install any Huawei equipment ahead of its 5G roll-out.

If the UK government opts to ban telecoms firms from using Huawei equipment in their roll out of the new network, then it will likely delay the whole process.

However, a final decision on Huawei will not be made until the Conservative Party have appointed a successor for Theresa May.