Reports about BT penalties for missing Huawei equipment-removal deadline “premature”
Staff Reporter
December 21, 2023
Reports that BT is facing massive fines for not meeting the deadline to remove Huawei equipment from its core network appear to be premature.
This is because the Government will not decide if any penalties are to be levied until March.
BT said:“We’ve met our initial targets. Both RAN traffic levels and sites were below the levels required by the Government for its July 2023 deadline. Our focus is now on work in the core for the Government’s deadline.”
The Government extended the deadline to remove equipment rom in core network functions to December 31, target of Jan. 28, 2023, The deadline to remove all Huawei equipment from Britain’s 5G networks by the end of 2027 remained unchanged.
A telecoms expert familiar with the Huawei equipment situation told Mobile News reports about BT being penalised for missing the deadline were “highly speculative and misunderstand the type of work that’s left to do”
BT::“We’ve met our initial targets
The Government extended the deadline to remove equipment rom in core network functions to December 31, target of Jan. 28, 2023, The deadline to remove all Huawei equipment from Britain’s 5G networks by the end of 2027 remained unchanged.
A telecoms expert familiar with the Huawei equipment situation told Mobile News reports about BT being penalised for missing the deadline were “highly speculative and misunderstand the type of work that’s left to do”
RAN traffic levels and sites were below the levels required by the Government for its July 2023 deadline
“Ofcom doesn’t formally report on compliance of all operators to Government until March. So even though the regulations state any operator that is not compliant could be fined, no decisions on that would be taken until March”.
Mobile networks have been told to remove Huawei equipment due to security concerns. The primary concern is that Huawei is subject to China’s National Intelligence Law, which could force it to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence work.
There are fears that the company’s equipment could be used for espionage, to intercept sensitive information, or to disrupt critical national infrastructure in the event of a conflict. Security forces are also concerned Huawei’s equipment could contain “backdoors” that would allow unauthorised access to the network.
Huawei has consistently denied allegations of espionage and backdoor access, and has emphasised its independence and commitment to security.
