LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Britain's telecoms companies
could be fined up to 10% of turnover or 100,000 pounds
($133,140) a day if they contravene a ban on using equipment
made by China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd under a new
law put forward on Tuesday.
The Telecommunications (Security) Bill will boost the
security standards of the UK's telecoms networks and remove the
threat of high-risk vendors, the government said.
Britain in July decided to ban the use of Huawei in 5G
networks from the end of 2027 because of concerns that U.S.
sanctions on chip technology meant the Chinese company would not
be a reliable supplier.
The bill aims to enshrine that decision in law and manage
any risks from other high-risk vendors in the future, with tough
penalties for telecom companies that break the rules.
Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said the benefits of 5G and
fibre networks could only be realised if they were secure and
resilient.
"This groundbreaking bill will give the UK one of the
toughest telecoms security regimes in the world and allow us to
take the action necessary to protect our networks," he said.
Huawei said it was disappointed that the government was
looking to exclude it from the roll-out of 5G.
"This decision is politically motivated and not based on a
fair evaluation of the risks," said Vice President Victor Zhang.
"It does not serve anyone's best interests as it would move
Britain into the digital slow lane and put at risk the
Government's levelling up agenda."
The government said the tougher security standards in the
bill would also help protect Britain from potential cyber
attacks from countries and criminals.
Regulator Ofcom will be given the duty of monitoring and
assessing the security of telecoms providers.
($1 = 0.7511 pounds)
(Reporting by Paul Sandle in London
Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Vodafone (VOD)
BT (BT.A)
