BT Says UK’s New Huawei Policy Will be “Impossible”

The utilization of Huawei technology in networking has been a contentious subject for quite some time now. Particularly as countries around the world begin to look to roll-out or expand their 5G networks. Around a month ago, however, it seemed likely the UK was set for a rather dramatic change in policy that would see even tighter restrictions placed on the use of Huawei products.

Following a report via the BBC, however, with the new proposals expected to be confirmed on Tuesday, BT has already said that, if their understanding of them is accurate, they will be almost impossible to implement.

BT Says UK Huawei Policy Will be “Impossible”

In something of a dramatic switch from the prior policy, the UK Government is expected to confirm that Huawei technology will not be allowed for use after the end of 2021. In addition, any of their existing technology currently within the entire telecom system must be removed entirely by 2025.

Speaking of this policy, however, BT has said that the timelines are practically “impossible” and could likely not even be achieved within the next 10 years!

“If you were to try and not have Huawei at all [in 5G] ideally we’d want seven years and we could probably do it in five. If you wanted to have no Huawei in the whole of the telecoms infrastructure across the whole of the UK, I think that’s impossible to do in under 10 years.”

What’s The Problem?

The main concern surrounding Huawei is that, as they are a Chinese based company, there may be ‘backdoor’ security systems hidden within the design that could potentially allow for the network to be spied upon or, more dramatically, entirely shut down. Although there is no specific evidence proving any of this, it’s certainly enough for the American Government to take a very strict approach and, with this new policy expected in the next 24-hours, it seems likely that the UK will also follow a similar suit.

Given the exceptionally high volume of Huawei technology used in phone systems, however, we tend to agree with BT that such a new policy would require a heck of a lot of work within a, relatively speaking, an exceptionally short period of time! While not impossible, the timeframes certainly make it seem highly difficult (and expensive).

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!