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* UK to purge Huawei from 5G by 2027
* No new 5G components to be bought from end of 2020
(Adds quotes, background)
By Paul Sandle and Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson
ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely from Britain's
5G network by 2027, risking the ire of China by signalling that
the world's biggest telecoms equipment maker is no longer
welcome in the West.
The seven-year lag will please British telecoms operators
such as BT, Vodafone and Three, which
had feared they would be forced to spend billions of pounds to
rip out Huawei equipment much faster. But it will delay the roll
out of 5G.
The United States had long pushed Johnson to reverse a
decision he made in January to grant Huawei a limited role in
5G. London has also been dismayed by a crackdown in Hong Kong
and the perception China did not tell the whole truth over the
coronavirus.
Britain's National Security Council (NSC), chaired by
Johnson, decided on Tuesday to ban the purchase 5G components
from the end of this year and to order the removal of all
existing Huawei gear from the 5G network by 2027.
The cyber arm of Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency, the
National Cyber Security Centre, told ministers it could no
longer guarantee the stable supply of Huawei gear after the
United States imposed new sanctions on chip technology.
Telecoms companies will also be told to stop using Huawei in
fixed-line fibre broadband within the next two years.
"This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one
for the UK telecoms networks, for our national security and our
economy, both now and indeed in the long run," Britain's
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Oliver Dowden told
parliament.
"By the time of the next election, we will have implemented
in law, an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei
equipment from our 5G networks."
In what some have compared to the Cold War antagonism with
the Soviet Union, the United States is worried that 5G dominance
is a milestone towards Chinese technological supremacy that
could define the geopolitics of the 21st century.
With faster data and increased capacity, 5G will become the
nervous system of the future economy - carrying data on
everything from global financial flows to critical
infrastructure such as energy, defence and transport.
After Australia first recognised the destructive power of 5G
if hijacked by a hostile state, the West has become steadily
more worried about Huawei. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/huawei-usa-campaign/
White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien is
meeting representatives of France, the UK, Germany and Italy in
Paris this week to discuss security, including 5G.
The West is trying to create a group of rivals to Huawei to
build 5G networks. Other large-scale telecoms equipment
suppliers are Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia
.
END OF 'GOLDEN ERA'?
Hanging up on Huawei, founded by a former People's
Liberation Army engineer, marks the end of what former Prime
Minister David Cameron cast as a "golden era" in ties, promoting
Britain as Europe's top destination for Chinese capital. Cameron
toasted the relationship over a beer with President Xi Jinping
in an English pub, which was later bought by a Chinese firm.
Trump, though, has repeatedly asked London to ban Huawei
which Washington calls an agent of the Chinese Communist state -
an argument that has support in Johnson's Conservative Party.
Huawei denies it spies for China and has said the United
States wants to frustrate its growth because no U.S. company
could offer the same range of technology at a competitive price.
China says banning one of its flagship global technology
companies would have far-reaching ramifications.
In January, Johnson defied Trump by allowing what he called
high-risk companies' involvement in 5G, capped at 35%.
(Additional reporting by William James; Writing by Paul Sandle
and Guy Faulconbridge
Editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff)
