Unplugging Huawei will be harder than it looks

There is nothing some Conservatives like talking about more than Huawei. Each new development in global politics is a new chance to talk about the Chinese telecoms giant and the rollout of 5G. China and the US having a trade row? Huawei. Coronavirus originating in China? Huawei. The day of the week rhymes with Huawei? Perfect.

Reports of a new review by the UK’s National Cyber-Security Centre (NCSC) on Huawei and security have, then, found a welcome audience among Conservatives looking for an excuse to pull the plug. But even the new NCSC review shows things are more complicated than they first appear: the agency is warning that US sanctions on Huawei might force the UK to use insecure third-party replacement spare parts, making it a security risk. It is just the latest development in an argument that has always been as much about trade wars and geopolitics as cybersecurity

The UK wants to be a world leader in rolling out 5G, which will initially give people mobile internet speeds ten to twenty times faster than 4G, but which will quickly open up entirely new ways of using mobile connectivity – crucially, 5G connections have fair less delay than 4G, which makes them far more suitable for use by automated vehicles.