In July, the UK government announced that it would ban Huawei equipment from any part of the UK’s 5G network. Operators were given until 2027 to remove any existing equipment and until the end of 2020 to stop purchasing new 5G equipment.
The decision – which the government attributed to additional US sanctions affecting Huawei’s ability to guarantee the security of its equipment – marked a U-turn from a previous decision to allow high-risk vendors to provide a limited proportion of non-core equipment. Operators have pleaded with lawmakers for sufficient time to replace Huawei equipment, with Vodafone asking for at least five years to complete the expensive and time-consuming process.
Now, BT has chosen Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson to replace Huawei’s Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment. Ericsson is expected to manage approximately half of total 5G traffic for BT and its mobile brand EE, which will be deployed in major cities including London...