Britain approves Huawei’s limited use in 5G networks, prompting US senator to compare the Chinese company to KGB
- Huawei would be excluded from the sensitive core of the country’s 5G mobile networks
- ‘Allowing Huawei to build the UK’s 5G networks today is like allowing the KGB to build its telephone network during the Cold War,’ said US Senator Tom Cotton
While that action imposes a cap on Huawei’s market share in Britain, it throws a lifeline to the embattled Chinese telecoms giant amid the Trump administration’s accusations that the company’s equipment poses a national security threat.
It could also serve as a model for other European governments, including Germany, as they prepare to make similar decisions over their deployment of 5G – the next-generation mobile technology that will help power advances such as the industrial internet, autonomous driving and smart cities.
Canada, the only member of an elite intelligence-sharing network yet to decide whether to allow the use of Huawei equipment, said on Tuesday that it was studying Britain’s decision.
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains told reporters that Canada would keep talking to allies, but did not specify the timing of a decision.
The British government said in a statement that “high-risk vendors” would be excluded from the sensitive “core” parts of the country’s 5G networks. It said there would be a 35 per cent cap on these vendors’ access to the non-sensitive parts of networks.