British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will allow China’s Huawei Technologies to bid for supplying 5G telecoms network to UK-based telecoms, the Sunday Times reported.

Senior government and security services sources said the UK is moving towards a decision that will see Huawei allowed access to the “non-contentious” parts of the network.
The development will open rift with United States as it has banned the company over fears that it is close to Chinese intelligence agencies.

A research report from GSMA in Feb 2019 said the number of 5G connections will reach 1.4 billion by 2025 – 15 percent of the global total. 5G is forecast to account for around 30 per cent of connections in markets such as China and Europe, and around half of the total in the US.

5G in UK

UK consumers are expected to use 13 times more mobile data in 2025 than today and 5G is intended to cope with this extra demand.

EE was the first UK operator to start 5G live network in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham or Manchester.

EE, a part of BT, plans to roll out its 5G services in a further 10 cities by the end of 2019: Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry and Bristol.

Vodafone Group has switched on 5G in seven cities: Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, and London.

O2, a part of Telefonica, is launching 5G across six major UK towns and cities: Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, Leeds and Slough. It plans to reach 20 more UK locations by the end of the year. O2 is aiming for its 5G to be live in 50 cities by 2020.

Three, which joins EE and Vodafone in a growing list of UK carriers offering 5G plans, will switch on its 5G network in 25 towns and cities by the end of 2019. Three said it will cover major centres including London, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester.