5G, Huawei and Risk

There has been a lot of stories in the news this week regarding the UK’s decision to allow the state backed Chinese company Huawei, a limited role in the UK 5G networks.

The Chinese firm will be banned from supplying kit to the “sensitive” core of the 5G network and will only be allowed to account for 35% of the total equipment in the rest of the network.

The decision has angered America and also several politicians in the UK and the decision is likely to be revisited as political pressure mounts on the UK government.

Our interest here at Bluespires is with the decision making process that was followed to end up where we currently are.

There are alternative options from Nokia and Ericsson, albeit more expensive, so why make the decision to allow Huawei to provide equipment? Something cheaper and higher risk does not seem like an appropriate decision when considering security, let alone national security.

All businesses and organisation have to weigh up risk and cost in every decision they make with IT, especially when it comes to securing an organisations most important data and networks. Spending a little more in these important areas to provide piece of mind and security seems like the more sensible decision.

Whether you are choosing a firewall for your organisation or choosing the equipment to run the national 5G network we believe that cost, although important, should be less of a consideration than a higher security risk.