UK issued guidelines to ban its companies from buying any 5G equipment from Huawei from December 31

London: The UK on Tuesday banned its companies from sourcing 5G equipment from Chinese telecom company manufacturer Huawei. The move comes despite Beijing’s threat to retaliate to any such move by Britain. 

UK’s Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden made the announcement after a meeting, chaired by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of his cabinet and the National Security Council. 

"From the end of this year, telecoms providers must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei," Dowden told the British parliament. 

He also said that new guidelines require the telecom operators to remove all 5G-related equipment, supplied by the Chinese company, from their infrastructure by 2027. 

Huawei dubbed the decision as “disappointing“ and politically motivated. 

"Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security," Huawei UK spokesman Ed Brewster said.

"This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone," he added.

Dowden said the move will delay the country’s roll-out of 5G plans by at least a year. 

He said the cumulative cost of the actions against the Chinese telecom giant would come to around £2 billion. 

The development comes after much back and forth between Trump administration and the UK as it was heavily dependent on the Chinese company for its 5G rollout plans in January.

"This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the UK telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run," Dowden said.