Huawei
I have received a briefing on the government's position on Chinese Telecommunications firm Huawei which reads as follows.
The above is the official line.
The following additional comments are my own views and do not necessarily represent the position either of the Conservative party or of my employer.
There is no easy way to deal with the challenges posed to Britain by Huawei. Whatever decision we take will damage relations with either China or our "Five Eyes" allies at a time when the last thing Britain needs is worse relations, let alone a trade war, with either.
A huge part of the debate on Huawei represents and attempt to slam shut a stable door when the horse had bolted a decade and a half ago.
BT kept government officials at regulatory and civil service level fully informed of the negotiations which took place with Huawei between 2003 and 2005, as a result of which a contract was signed giving the company a major stake in Britain's 4G network. (For the avoidance of doubt, I was not a part of those negotiations and am repeating only information which is in the public domain.)
Consequently Huawei has already been deeply embedded in this country's telecommunications network for well over a decade.
Britain should have had the public debate which has now been taking place about the company before this happened, and yet, according to reports laid before the House of Commons, officials did not even tell ministers in the then government about the 2005 contract until 2006, about a year after it was signed.
With 20:20 hindsight, assuming that report is accurate, this was a grave error of judgement by the officials concerned.
If we are going to revisit the role of Huawei in UK Telecommunication, it would be sensible to look at the whole picture including not just the new 5G network but the existing 4G one and the switching equipment for internal phone and data networks which the company has supplied to both private and public sector organisations.
If Huawei represents a threats to the security of the network, be it from the risk of spying or the possibility of difficulties getting parts and software upgrades, this will affect 4G and internal networks too. Time to look at the big picture.
"Yesterday, we announced plans to remove Huawei from our 5G networks by 2027, ensuring we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon.
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The above is the official line.
The following additional comments are my own views and do not necessarily represent the position either of the Conservative party or of my employer.
There is no easy way to deal with the challenges posed to Britain by Huawei. Whatever decision we take will damage relations with either China or our "Five Eyes" allies at a time when the last thing Britain needs is worse relations, let alone a trade war, with either.
A huge part of the debate on Huawei represents and attempt to slam shut a stable door when the horse had bolted a decade and a half ago.
BT kept government officials at regulatory and civil service level fully informed of the negotiations which took place with Huawei between 2003 and 2005, as a result of which a contract was signed giving the company a major stake in Britain's 4G network. (For the avoidance of doubt, I was not a part of those negotiations and am repeating only information which is in the public domain.)
Consequently Huawei has already been deeply embedded in this country's telecommunications network for well over a decade.
Britain should have had the public debate which has now been taking place about the company before this happened, and yet, according to reports laid before the House of Commons, officials did not even tell ministers in the then government about the 2005 contract until 2006, about a year after it was signed.
With 20:20 hindsight, assuming that report is accurate, this was a grave error of judgement by the officials concerned.
If we are going to revisit the role of Huawei in UK Telecommunication, it would be sensible to look at the whole picture including not just the new 5G network but the existing 4G one and the switching equipment for internal phone and data networks which the company has supplied to both private and public sector organisations.
If Huawei represents a threats to the security of the network, be it from the risk of spying or the possibility of difficulties getting parts and software upgrades, this will affect 4G and internal networks too. Time to look at the big picture.
Comments
A DCMS report published last year into the security issues around 5G put it very well:
"National dependency on a small number of viable suppliers
The lack of diversity across the telecoms supply chain creates the possibility of national dependence on single suppliers, which itself poses a range of risks to the security and resilience of UK telecoms networks.
The dependency risk is most pronounced in the mobile and fixed access networks where supply is dominated by three global players – Huawei (the UK market leader), Ericsson and Nokia.
There is a greater diversity of supply in core network functionality."
You can make an argument that the then government or the industry should have tried to create a UK "National Champion" in Telecoms manufacturing some thirty years or so ago, but to be honest the track record of such policies in this country is pretty disastrous.
It certainly could not be done today within the timescale in which Britain needs to have a 5G network if we want to look like a competitive economy.
"Ensuring a competitive, sustainable and diverse supply chain
The Government’s view is that there is a strong requirement for policy interventions to create a more diverse and competitive supply chain over the longer-term.
This will be critical to drive higher quality, innovation and reduce the risk of dependency on individual vendors.
The Government will pursue a targeted diversification strategy, supporting the development and growth of new players in those parts of the network that pose security and resilience risks. As part of the UK’s modern industrial strategy, we will promote policies that support new entrants and the growth of smaller players, including R&D support, promoting interoperability and demand stimulation, for example through the Government’s 5G Trials and Testbeds (5GTT) Programme. The Government will also seek to attract established scale players to the UK market.
Given the globalised nature of the telecoms supply chain, we are willing to work with international partners to support market diversification."
Arnold Weinstock was a brilliant businessman, but with hindsight you can certainly argue that his methods caused the managers of the units within GEC to be too risk-averse and lack the strategic vision to reach for the technologies of the future.
Had the company has a more innovative approach it is not entirely beyond the bounds of possibility that GEC might still be a huge player and up there with Huawei, Nokia and Ericsson.
It is also possible that it could have crashed much sooner and more disastrously than it did.
We'll never know. And we have to deal with the situation we face now.
His heavy focus on profit and avoiding risk was a great way to stay big and profitable for a couple of decades but a poor one of staying at the top in a rapidly changing industry in which prolonged success requires constant re-invention and a willingness to take risks is not a character flaw but a necessity for long-term survival.