Coronavirus: U-turn on Huawei’s 5G involvement would be ‘disservice’ to UK
Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has said the government would be doing a “disservice” to Britain if its role in the country’s 5G rollout was disrupted.
Boris Johnson decided in January to allow Huawei to supply non-core elements of the UK’s 5G network, going against decisions made by fellow Five Eyes security partners Australia and the US.
The move was backed by parliament, despite a revolt by 38 Tory backbench rebels who claimed it left the country susceptible to surveillance by the Chinese state.
In an open letter released today, Huawei’s UK boss Victor Zhang said data usage in the UK had surged by 50 per cent since the start of the coronavirus outbreak and had placed pressure on providers.
He said it showed how many people in the UK were “stuck in the digital slow lane” and that it underlined the importance of Huawei’s involvement in the 5G rollout.
“There are those who choose to continue to attack us without presenting any evidence,” he said.
“Disrupting our involvement in the 5G rollout would do Britain a disservice.”
It has been speculated that the outbreak of Covid-19, and the Chinese Communists Party’s response, could stoke calls for Huawei to be dropped from the construction of 5G altogether.
The company is only allowed to build periphery parts of the network and not core elements, such as radio towers.
However, some have argued that even this amount of access could leave the system vulnerable to attempted surveillance and sabotage.