In the UK, an influential parliamentary committee has released a report analyzing the feasibility of moving up the deadline for removing all of Huawei’s equipment from the 5G networks. The report reasons that if pressure from allies continues and if relations with China remain tense, the deadline could easily be moved up from its current 2027 date. The House of Commons Defense Committee backed the deadline, however, it also stated that developments in the political arena could necessitate the date moving forward to 2025, a move which the committee calls economically feasible.
One of the UK’s closest allies, the US, argues that the use of Huawei equipment in sensitive networks presents a national security risk and could allow for Chinese state spying. However, the US has not provided any evidence that this is the case and the tech giant Huawei has repeatedly denied this possibility. Huawei has been providing technology for UK mobile networks for almost twenty years, and the removal deadline represented a significant shift in the UK’s former position.