Huawei 5G Equipment Risk Can Be Mitigated, UK Concludes: Report

The British government has decided it can mitigate the risks arising from the use of Huawei Technologies in 5G networks, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing two sources familiar with the conclusion of Britain's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

The conclusion reached by Britain would "carry great weight" with European leaders, the FT reported, citing a source.

"Other nations can make the argument that if the British are confident of mitigation against national security threats then they can also reassure their publics and the US administration that they are acting in a prudent manner in continuing to allow their telecommunications service providers to use Chinese components as long as they take the kinds of precautions recommended by the British," the source told the newspaper.

Huawei, along with another Chinese network equipment company ZTE, has been accused the United States of working at the behest of the Chinese government. The United States has said their equipment could be used to spy on Americans.

Huawei has repeatedly denied the claims.

Earlier this month, the chief of Britain's foreign intelligence service said Britain should avoid relying on a monopoly provider of equipment in new 5G mobile networks, but that there were no easy answers to concerns about using Huawei.

Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada in December and faces possible extradition to the United States. Last month Meng, who is the daughter of the Huawei founder, was charged with wire fraud that violated US sanctions on Iran.

Huawei did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday. While NCSC did not directly comment on the FT report, it reiterated earlier concerns about Huawei's engineering and security capabilities.

"As was made clear in July's HCSEC (Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre) oversight board, the NCSC has concerns around Huawei's engineering and security capabilities. We have set out the improvements we expect the company to make. The latest Annual HCSEC report will be published in the near future."

© Thomson Reuters 2019