The UK government extended the two Huawei 5G kit-removal deadline

The government has put back two deadlines for the removal of Huawei equipment from the 5G networks of the UK.

The requirement to remove the product of the Chinese company from the network core ok the UK has been pushed back 11 months, to 31 December 2023. The limit on the amount of Huawei kits in fiber-broadband infrastructure must be achieved now by the end of October, rather than July, next year. The advice was provided by the National Cyber Security Centre.

In 2020, the NCSC decided the security of the products of Huawei could no longer be managed. The UK government decided that all equipment of Huawei had to be stripped out of the state by the end of 2027, following a decision of the US to place the company under sanctions. Along with this eight other interim deadlines remain unchanged.

The US authorities feared that the 5G equipment of Huawei makes countries vulnerable and have critically important services switched off or their data being accessed by the Chinese state. However, Huawei denied being controlled by the Chinese government or posing a security threat. The new deadline extensions follow consultations with UK telecoms providers and Huawei.