Published 10:50 IST, July 15th 2020
After UK's Huawei 5G ban, competitors Nokia & Ericsson 'ready to replace' Chinese firm
After the United Kingdoms decision to ban Chinese firm Huawei, its biggest competitors, Nokia and Ericsson have said they are ready to step in the UK's market.
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The United Kingdom on Tuesday banned Huawei from its 5G telecom network, reversing an earlier decision to allow the Chinese tech giant a limited role in building the country's super-fast wireless infrastructure. After the decision, its biggest competitors, Nokia and Ericsson have said they are ready to step in the UK's market.
'We are ready to replace Huawei'
"We have the capacity and expertise to replace all of the Huawei equipment in the UK's networks at scale and speed and are ready to step up to support the implementation of the UK government decision with minimal impact on the people using our customers’ networks," Head of Nokia Britain Cormac Whelan said in a statement.
"We stand ready to work with the UK operators to meet their timetable, with no disruption to customers," AFP quoted Arun Bansal, President of Europe and Latin America at Ericsson as saying.
The UK on Tuesday announced its decision to ban British companies from buying Huawei-produced equipment for 5G networks from the end of the year. Huawei will be completely removed from the UK's 5G networks by the end of 2027, the government announced after a review by the country's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the impact of US sanctions against the Chinese telecommunications company.
'UK 5G networks will be Huawei-free'
The decision was taken at a meeting of the UK's National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in response to new US sanctions against the telecom major imposed in May which removed the firm's access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology.
"No new kit is to be added from January 2021, and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK," Oliver Dowden, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Expressing disappointment over UK's decision to ban it from 5G networks, Huawei in a statement issued in Beijing said, "This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide."
"Instead of 'levelling up', the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK," it said. Huawei said its future in the UK has become "politicised". "This is about US trade policy and not security," the statement said.
(With agency inputs)
10:50 IST, July 15th 2020