UK said to tell telecoms operators to stockpile Huawei gear in face of US sanctions

British officials said they are reviewing the specific guidance on how Huawei equipment should be deployed to best secure the country’s telecoms networks
London designated Huawei a ‘high-risk vendor’ in January, capping its involvement in 5G mobile network roll-outs at a 35 per cent market share

Huawei

Reuters

Published: 8:06am, 20 Jun, 2020

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British security officials have told the country’s telecommunications network operators to ensure they have adequate stockpiles of Huawei Technologies equipment amid concerns that new US sanctions will disrupt the Chinese firm’s ability to maintain critical supplies, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Britain granted Huawei a limited role in the roll-out of its 5G mobile networks in January, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has since come under renewed pressure from Washington and some lawmakers in his own party who said the company’s equipment is a security risk. Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Officials at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are now studying the impact of US measures announced in May, which are intended to restrict Huawei’s ability to source the advanced semiconductors needed to produce its 5G network equipment and flagship smartphones.

Senior NCSC officials last week wrote to telecoms operators including Britain’s BT Group and Vodafone, telling them to maintain adequate supplies of spare parts from all manufacturers, according to three people familiar with the matter.

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That letter also emphasised the increased risk to Huawei’s equipment and its future ability to provide updates for those products in the face of US pressure.

“Ensuring that products and components are kept up-to-date is essential to maintaining the security of networks,” the letter said. “Escalating US action against Huawei may affect its ability to provide updates for products containing US technology.”

An NCSC spokeswoman said: “The NCSC has provided operators with a series of precautionary steps we recommend they take, while we carefully consider the impact these sanctions have on the UK’s networks.”

Both BT and Vodafone declined to comment.

“Our customers are our number one priority and we are working with them to ensure business continuity,” Huawei vice-president Victor Zhang said. “We strongly oppose politically-motivated actions by the US that are designed to damage our business and are not based on evidence.”

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Britain designated Huawei a “high-risk vendor” in January, capping its 5G involvement at a 35 per cent market share and excluding it from the data-heavy core of mobile networks.

Officials said they are reviewing the specific guidance on how Huawei equipment should be deployed to best secure Britain’s mobile networks and are considering a range of options. A decision is expected in the coming weeks.

Any move by London to further restrict Huawei or bar the company completely from Britain’s telecoms networks would strain relations with China, which have grown tense in recent months over Beijing’s proposed national security law for Hong Kong and the Covid-19 pandemic.

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