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By Kanishka Singh and Vishal Vivek
June 9 (Reuters) - Vodafone Group Plc, the world's
second-biggest mobile operator, has warned that Britain's desire
to lead the world in 5G technology will face a big blow if it
decides to remove China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
from the country's telecoms infrastructure.
"The UK's leadership in 5G will be lost if mobile operators
are forced to spend time and money replacing existing
equipment", Scott Petty, Vodafone UK's chief technology officer,
told Reuters in an emailed statement.
The British government should make efforts to expand 5G
coverage and invest in the next stage of this technology instead
of stripping out the equipment of the Chinese telecoms equipment
maker, Petty said.
"We are not tied to one supplier, but it is important to
understand the extent of what is at stake here," he said, adding
Vodafone is working with Ericsson and testing
equipment from new suppliers.
Vodafone's warning was reported earlier by the Financial
Times newspaper.
The development comes as Britain held talks on 5G networking
equipment supplies with Japan's NEC Corp and South
Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as part of a bid
to develop alternatives to Huawei.
Britain designated Huawei a "high-risk vendor" in January,
capping its 5G involvement at 35% and excluding it from the
data-heavy core of the network.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under renewed pressure
from Washington and lawmakers in his own party, who say Huawei's
equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. Huawei has
repeatedly denied the allegations.
London is looking at the possibility of phasing Huawei out
of its 5G network completely by 2023, officials have said.
Ties between Britain and China have grown tense recently
over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak and the
situation in Hong Kong, where China has decided to impose a new
security law.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom
Brown)
