Despite allegations from the United States of Huawei being used by the Chinese government to spy on other countries, a number of western companies are still continuing to do business with the Chinese firm.
UK mobile operator Vodafone announced this week that it will be maintaining its use of Huawei equipment for its planned 5G rollout.
Huawei was the first to make an announcement about its continued partnership with Vodafone. The telecommunications company mentioned in a statement that it was "proud to be helping Vodafone" in building its network infrastructure for its planned 5G rollout.
The partnership comes at a time when threats of a China boycott looms over UK companies. This may happen if the UK government does decide to follow the US-led boycott and heed its call to cut ties with the Chinese firm.
UK regulators have already launched a telecommunications supply chain review following Trump's call to boycott Huawei. Some companies in the UK have chosen to wait for the government's decision prior to forging any new partnership with Huawei and other Chinese firms. Vodafone, along with its UK rival EE, has chosen not to wait and have instead moved ahead with their transactions with Huawei for their respective 5G networks.
Huawei's senior vice-president, Victor Zhang, mentioned in a local interview that the company was proud of the part it played in helping the UK establish its 5G network. Zhang stated that Huawei's partnership with Vodafone also serves to reinforce the company's 18-year history of supporting the UK and its economic growth.
Vodafone has already begun the initial rollout of its 5G services in the UK. The service is available in select areas around cities such as Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, and London. Vodafone plans to roll out the service in 12 more cities in the coming months.
In a response to reports of its continued partnership with Huawei, Vodafone explained that it had chosen to use Huawei's equipment only for the non-core parts of its network infrastructure. The company also assured the public that all security concerns have been addressed and that there is no need for any added worries.
Vodafone's chief technical officer, Scott Petty, had mentioned that the company hopes the UK would not push through with a full ban on Huawei.
The Chinese firm is after all one of the leaders when it comes to 5G technology and UK companies will stand to lose a lot if they don't take advantage of that fact. Petty also mentioned that a ban on all Huawei equipment, even in non-core areas, would result in billions of dollars in replacement costs and a massive delay in the rollout of 5G networks across the country.
