Following the U.K. government’s announcement that it had banned Huawei from its 5G telecom network, the Chinese telecommunications and consumer device company issued a statement to the press.
Speaking in Parliament, U.K. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said mobile network operators in the country would be forced to stop buying equipment from Huawei by the end of the year.
They will also be required to strip out Huawei gear from their infrastructure by 2027.
The decision follows sanctions imposed by Washington, which claims the firm poses a national security threat – something Huawei denies.
Here’s the Huawei statement below in full:
Edward Brewster, Spokesperson of Huawei U.K., said:
“This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of ‘levelling up’ the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK.
“Regrettably our future in the U.K. has become politicized, this is about US trade policy and not security. Over the past 20 years, Huawei has focused on building a better connected UK. As a responsible business, we will continue to support our customers as we have always done.
“We will conduct a detailed review of what today’s announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain.”
Huawei’s U.K. ban is a victory for U.S. President Donald Trump and a significant blow to the Chinese tech giant, which has been ramping up its investment into the U.K.
