BT misses deadline on Huawei equipment ban

BT has failed to fully hit an end-of-year UK government deadline for removing telecoms equipment supplied by Huawei after delays in migrating its 2G and 3G services, as providers race to strip the kit from their networks owing to security concerns.

UK telecoms operators were required to rip out Huawei equipment from their core infrastructure — in effect, the central parts of the network — by December 31 as part of a wider ban on kit from the Chinese vendor over national security concerns.

BT has removed almost all of the telecoms infrastructure supplied by Huawei but is yet to finish the process. Other groups have also been racing to hit the deadline and face potential fines if they do not comply with the ban.

However, government officials said they would be given some leeway given the difficulties in taking out essential parts of a network while still running services.

BT told the Financial Times that 4G and 5G data and voice calls were “now delivered by non-Huawei core equipment”. It said that more than 99 per cent “of all core traffic is now being served by non-Huawei kit”.

The FTSE 100 company is still working on its older 2G and 3G voice and data services, however, which also enable calls and internet usage over its networks.

The government in 2022 issued legal documents to operators stating that Huawei technology must be removed from 5G networks by the end of 2027, after initially announcing the ban in 2020 following US sanctions on the Chinese company.

The requirement to remove Huawei kit from the “core” network was extended to the end of last year following industry consultation. The original target date was in January 2023.

One mobile executive told the FT it had been “a challenging and lengthy process” that had meant “close communication with government regarding our timescales”.

Huawei declined to comment. It has always denied that its technology poses national security risks.

The government ban has previously caused disruption. The FT in September reported that the drive to remove Huawei kit had led to mobile outages for Sky customers.

Sky said: “We place the highest importance on the security and resilience of our services and are making changes to our network in line with government objectives.”

Outgoing BT chief executive Philip Jansen in 2020 warned of the risks of service blackouts if further measures were taken. BT has estimated the cost to the company to be £500mn for the total removal of Huawei equipment.

UK communications regulator Ofcom will report to the secretary of state by March 31 on providers’ progress on the core network deadline.

Virgin Media O2 said it had “removed all required equipment from our core broadband and mobile networks” and was supportive of the government’s objective of removing Huawei equipment from UK telecoms networks.

Vodafone said it had “never” had any Huawei equipment in its core network and was “on track” to meet the wider 2027 deadline.

Three UK, owned by CK Hutchison, previously told the FT its core network provider was Nokia and that it was “on track” to meet all deadlines to remove Huawei equipment from its radio network.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it would “continue to work with operators to remove Huawei technology as quickly as possible while minimising disruption for consumers”.