UK announces plan for regulating 5G networks

On 30th November 2020, the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced a plan to 1) remove “high risk vendor equipment” from the country’s 5G networks and 2) diversify the country’s telecommunications supply chain. The new Telecommunications (Security) Bill will enable the UK to protect itself from “high risk vendors” and the 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy aims to support necessary suppliers, attract new suppliers, and accelerate the development and deployment of open-interface solutions. Additionally, not only does the UK’s plan include stopping the procurement of new Huawei equipment from the end of 2020 and removing all Huawei equipment by the end of 2027, it also requires telecommunications providers to stop installing Huawei 5G equipment from end September 2021. For more information, please see the press release from the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.