No technological grounds for banning Huawei, but ethical concerns must be taken into account

• Letter to the Secretary of State
• Inquiry: UK telecommunications infrastructure
• Science and Technology Committee

Rt Hon Norman Lamb MP, Chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said:

“Following my Committee's recent evidence session, we have concluded that there are no technical grounds for excluding Huawei entirely from the UK's 5G or other telecommunications networks.

“The benefits of 5G are clear and the removal of Huawei from the current or future networks could cause significant delays.

“However, as outlined in the letter to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, we feel there may well be geopolitical or ethical considerations that the Government need to take into account when deciding whether they should use Huawei's equipment.

“The Government also needs to consider whether the use of Huawei's technology would jeopardise this country's ongoing co-operation with our major allies.

“Moreover, Huawei has been accused of supplying equipment in Western China that could be enabling serious human rights abuses. The evidence we heard during our evidence session did little to assure us that this is not the case.

“I hope the evidence we have gathered helps the Government as it completes its Telecoms Supply Chain Review, which must be published by the end of August 2019.”

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