All major UK carriers rely on Huawei for 5G equipment

A report by The Observer from the weekend revealed that major UK carriers built their 5G networks with the help from Huawei. The Chinese company is involved in building the 5G stations in six of the seven cities in the UK where Vodafone has launched its next-generation connectivity. It is also building “hundreds of 5G sites for EE” and already has won contracts with Three and O2. The British government is yet to decide whether Huawei is a threat to national security. Telecoms decided to work with the Shenzhen-based manufacturer for “non-core” parts of their systems despite the whole situation being a gamble. If the government decides to block Huawei from building radio systems for wireless communication in the United Kingdom, the economy might receive a hit between £4.5 billion and £6.8 billion. Back in May, the United States put Huawei on an Entity List, essentially forbidding US companies to trade with the equipment maker, and these concerns were shared with senior UK government members. They are still arguing about the extent to which the Chinese company should be restricted.