Huawei banned from UK 5G networks in major government U-turn

China has reacted angrily after the government banned Huawei from the UK's 5g networks amid security concerns it's a major u-turn after the Prime Minister said in January that the firm could be allowed a limited role in the new era of faster technology but he came under pressure from America to change course tonight China has called the decision wrong and disappointing and questioned whether the UK can provide a fair environment for business the decision means that telecoms firms in the UK will be banned from buying new 5g Huawei equipment after the end of this year existing Huawei technology will be removed from the UK's 5g networks by 2027 it could mean the rollout of 5g is delayed for two to three years and may cost up to two billion pounds here's our security correspondent gordon carrera 5g promises to be the technology of the future powering innovation and connecting everything around us together but today we learned that Huawei will be locked out of that future in the UK as the government announced a major u-turn on the role of the Chinese company those facts have changed so has our approach that is why we have taken this decision that there can be no 

new hawawa equipment from the end of this year and set out a clear timetable to exclude her huawei completely by 2027 with an irreversible path implemented by the time of the next election critics claim allowing a Chinese company to build these 5g phone masts is a security threat risking data being stolen or services switched off that's something the company denies but pressure from Washington has forced the UK to shift from its January decision to let the company play a limited role this is a decision based on US trade priorities and trade requirements as opposed to a decision about security you know we're very disappointed by the decision from the government you know we think it's bad news for the people of the UK we think it's bad news if you use a smart phone or you use the Internet there are thousands of mobile phone masts all across the country and the challenges that who are weighs already embedded in many of the not just 5g but also 4G we've already been using with our phones and even the network carrying data beneath our streets the government has chosen a seven-year time frame for highways removal because even though it will slow down 5g rollout they're hoping it will limit the disruption to the technology on which we all rely there's been intense lobbying from telecoms companies who use who are way they'd warned of coverage blackouts but today the chief executive of Britain's biggest BT seemed confident they could make this timetable work are you actually going to be going around places and physically taking out while we quit or is it just more question of replacing it when it comes for upgrade it's mainly gonna be replacing it when it comes to upgrade I mean there is a little bit of of re-engineering and moving why wake it in two different places but again again you know what's so important for us is to have the time to deploy the right get in the right place and make sure not only are we delivering the service for our 24 million mobile customers today but also building that the new network the new 5g network for the future conservative backbenchers had pushed for a tougher line one cautiously welcomed the new plan but said he wanted to see it followed through I'm hoping this is going to be a slow goodbye to huawei high-risk vendor but it could be that they Double Down they try to sell as much kit in the next few months as possible and people are still putting legally high risk vendor kit into our 5g network in three four and five years time in the hope that policy or government changes this evening came the first response from China its ambassador to the UK tweeting disappointing and wrong decision by the UK on huawei it's become questionable whether the UK can provide an open fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries today may not be the end of the road just as Washington piled on the pressure now it may be Beijing's turn gordon carrera BBC news so as we just saw china is not happy with the decision what could it mean though for future chinese invest in the UK our business editor Simon Jack is here do we know well this is a big moment for sure because over the last 20 years the UK successive governments have tried to attract investment from China and it has worked they have piled 45 billion pounds into the UK by context that is twice as much as the next European country Germany some would say that's because Joey's a bit more cautious about who they allow to invest in what but it's been a big range of investments if you look at this you've had cinemas restaurants Wolverhampton Wanderers and some sensitive ones as well like British steel but by far the most sensitive one expect this to come up again and again is in the nuclear industry China has already got a 1/3 share of the Hinkley Point plant under construction in Somerset it's got an agreement to take 20% share in Suffolk and most importantly of all an agreement to build its own design reactor in Bradwell in Essex and you think mobile phone networks are sensitive be very hard to argue that your own design nuclear reactor isn't and the reason this is an important moment is because some will say this is a moment where the UK is asserting itself as an agile independent political and economic power others will say they're being a bit like a pinball buffeted between the big powers the US and China which are engaged as frankly in a full-scale economic cold war and the UK is caught in the crossfire Simon Jack thank you well in a moment we can get a reaction from our chief political correspondent Vicky young in Westminster but first let's talk to our North America editor John sophal in Washington and this u-turn has come about after a lot of pressure from the US yeah I think it's fair to say Sophie that Britain has been bullied and harried into submission the pressures been intense it's come from Donald Trump downwards it's been political it's been economic and most sensitive of all it has threatened the intelligence relationship between the two nations now Britain's original calculation was that it could ride this out that this was more about protectionism than it was about national security and that they would withstand the pressure but as the relationship with China has deteriorated so the heat has intensified culminating in a very testy conversation between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson and Britton may be a free trading nation setting out on its path able to strike deals with anyone it wants to now that it's left to EU but that doesn't inoculate it from superpower politics and this administration has essentially said to London you can have America or you can have China but you can't have both and let's talk now to Viki Young who is in Westminster is it just the pressure from America that has changed all this or were there other factors that certainly was part of it having a close ally wanting you to fall into line now the government's say this was about that technical issue that the equipment was no longer safe but there was another very pressing issue - and that was a parliamentary one dozens and dozens of conservative MPs are willing and ready to defeat the government on all of this now they see this as much broader than just telecoms they want a complete reassessment of the whole relationship they look at the economy they think that the UK economy is over reliant on Chinese money but they also look at that international situation that has changed since January they say with coronavirus the Chinese haven't been transparent on all of that and they look at what's happening in Hong Kong and they see human abuse of human values there so for them this is about values as well it does seem very different the relationship is very different from the one that David Cameron had when he hailed this golden era of Chinese relations Boris Johnson says he does want a constructive relationship with China what we don't know is how far Donald Trump and his own MPs will push him in the other direction Viki and Westminster and John in Washington thank You