UK opens talks with Huawei 5G rival as Boris Johnson confronts China

Name: UK allows Huawei to help build its 5G network despite US warnings of national security threat
Uploaded: 2020-06-03T23:20:05.000Z
Duration: 1 min 41 s
Description: UK allows Huawei to help build its 5G network despite US warnings of national security threat

The aim is to move the UK away from reliance on Huawei, in the face of growing political opposition within the country’s ruling party and wariness towards China

The UK has opened talks with NEC Corp, while also considering Samsung Electronics as another possible 5G network equipment supplier

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The UK is considering NEC Corp and Samsung Electronics as equipment suppliers for the country’s 5G infrastructure, as the administration of Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks to remove Huawei Technologies from that next-generation mobile network roll-out amid a row with China. Photo: DPA

Bloomberg

Published: 7:20am, 4 Jun 2020Updated: 7:30am, 4 Jun 2020

The UK is in talks with a 5G equipment rival to Huawei Technologies, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration revises the British government’s stance towards China in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Officials spoke with Japanese technology company NEC Corp in May as part of efforts to diversify the range of telecommunications equipment providers for the UK’s 5G mobile networks, a person familiar with the matter said. The government is also looking at Samsung Electronics as another possible option to provide crucial 5G infrastructure, the person said.

The aim is to move the country away from reliance on Huawei, in the face of growing political opposition within Britain’s ruling Conservative Party and wariness towards China among the UK’s international allies.

Johnson had given the Shenzhen-based telecommunications equipment maker the green light to supply parts of the UK’s 5G infrastructure in January, a move that angered US President Donald Trump who had called for the Chinese company to be banned.

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UK allows Huawei to help build its 5G network despite US warnings of national security threat

But Johnson and his close team have become far more sceptical of China since the Covid-19 crisis hit the UK, as have others in his party. Tories, including officials in the administration, have been critical of Beijing over China’s handling of the initial stages of the coronavirus outbreak.

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