The U.K. Parliament is setting a motion to remove Huawei’s involvement in the 5G rollout in the country. Boris Johnson’s plan with Huawei might crumble should the motion gain traction.
A few months ago, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson allocated a minimal portion of the country’s 5G implementation to Huawei. He steamrolled his way to get what he planned for, but it might crumble following the change in the disposition of the conservative members of the U.K. Parliament.
China suddenly revises reports on Wuhan cases
Just last week, China adjusted the official report of Wuhan city’s Coronavirus cases. The Chinese Central Government adjusted the death toll from 1,290 to 3,869.
The reason for the adjustment was the unaccounted cases of deaths that occurred in the homes of the Coronavirus victims. However, the Central Government still maintains that there was no cover up of the reporting of the deaths despite constant international pressure.
Brewing uproar in the U.K. Parliament
According to the U.K. parliamentary Conservative party chairman, Tom Tugendhat,
The mood in the party has hardened.
This was after China flip flopped in its reports on the cases of death in Wuhan.He added that the party can not tolerate actions of future business partners and countries that do not share the same values as the U.K.
Another member of the Conservative Party added that there must be a sound exit strategy after the expected fall out between U.K. and Huawei concerning the 5G implementation.
He added that telecommunications providers in the U.K. should know that the parliament is determined to drive Huawei’s involvement down to zero percent.
Repercussions for Huawei
Huawei maintains its position that the company is not a puppet of the Chinese government. It consistently says that the Chinese government does not interfere with its operations, nor does it have access to Huawei users’ information.
Our engineers are doing their bit to help keep Britain connected. They’re out supporting our customers – the mobile #networks – to deliver the capacity and speed we all need right now. #KeepBritainOnline #ConnectedTogether pic.twitter.com/Q2VK06R1EG
— HuaweiUK (@HuaweiUK) April 17, 2020
Despite this fact, Huawei stands to lose a huge chunk of its business in Europe should the fall out happen sooner or later.
The loss will not just happen on Huawei’s end. Should the Parliament decide on dropping Huawei as its telecommunications hardware supplier, present telecom companies also has to shell out major amounts of funds.
According to a report, BT PLC stands to shell out up to one billion AUD in a span of three years just to rip out all of Huawei’s previously installed 4G equipment.
The U.K. government then has to consider which interests it should prioritize. It has to weigh the importance between trusting Huawei’s word on its data privacy or protecting the country’s confidential information.
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