The U.K’s National Cyber Security Center has ruled that it has found no evidence to suggest that Chinese communications telecom company Huawei should be excluded from the country’s telecommunications networks.
The committee found that there is no such things as a 100% secure system and that, from a technical point of view, a Huawei exclusion wouldn’t eliminate all potential security threats posed by foreign suppliers. Meaning, any foreign suppliers could be just as vulnerable as Huawei.
Recently, the U.S. has urged other countries in Europe and elsewhere to not use Huawei communications equipment over fear the company may be using the equipment to spy on others. The U.S. went so far as to add Huawei and its affiliates to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Entity List, effectively blacklisting any U.S. company from working with the Chinese vendor without having to bypass major hurdles.
The U.S. banning Huawei from participating in the 5G equipment race was followed by New Zealand and Australia, yet parts of Europe, including Germany and France, have not ruled out using the company's communications equipment.
“Regardless of the actual security risk posed by equipment from Huawei or any other vendor, telecommunications networks are designed such that they are secure even if their individual components are not,” the Cyber Security Center said.
Additionally, the committee said that many telecommunications networks use equipment that has been manufactured in China, so a ban on Huawei equipment would not remove potential Chinese influence from the supply chain. Also, not having Huawei bidding would give network operators less leverage on equipment vendors, distorting market competition.
