Huawei refutes spying concerns in open letter to parliament

The firm claims to have invested £2 billion into Britain over the last five years

Huawei refuted claims it is a threat to UK national security in an open letter to parliament.

The Government will be publishing a review next month to decide whether to ban Huawei kit in future network builds.

The reply letter to sent to the  House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, Huawei carrier business president Ryan Ding highlighted the firm invested £2 billion into Britain over the last five years, which in-turn created more than 7,500 direct and indirect jobs.

He then went on to strongly deny claims that Huawei services and products present a threat to UK national security, noting Huawei’s commercial reputation would be destroyed if it was caught spying.

“The governments in some countries have labelled Huawei as a security threat, but they have never substantiated these allegations with solid evidence. For us, the lasting support and trust of our customers worldwide speaks volumes,” said Ding.

“Destroy our business”
“Huawei has never and will never use UK-based hardware, software or information gathered in the UK or anywhere else globally, to assist other countries in gathering intelligence. Were Huawei ever to engage in malicious behaviour, it would not go unnoticed – and it would certainly destroy our business.”

Huawei pledges to invest $2bn over the next five years to improve the security of its products, but Ding notes it could take three to five years to produce desired results.

“Enhancing our software engineering capabilities is like replacing components on a high-speed train in motion,” he said. “It is a complicated and involved process, and will take at least three to five years to see tangible results. We hope the UK government can understand this.”

Earlier this week -Mobile US CEO John Legere closed the door on Chinese equipment vendors, stating the operator will not use kit from Huawei or ZTE for its 5G network.