Spy fears see removal of £2bn Chinese technology from UK Police and Ambulance 999 systems
CHINESE-MADE components will be stripped from communications equipment of hundreds of thousands of British police and ambulance workers amid spying fears.
By EMILY FERGUSON
Express.co.uk
Sun, Dec 23, 2018
Project supplier EE will remove Huawei hardware from a police and ambulance network designed to provide secure mobile data and call coverage, The Sunday Telegraph reports. The £2.3 billion Home Office scheme to provide 300,000 emergency services workers, their vehicles and more than 100 aircraft with the equipment has already been plagued by delays. Work on the Emergency Services Network (ESN) is said to take even longer as EE is to replace the Chinese technology, due to a policy by its owner BT, who will be footing the bill.
Earlier this month BT announced that it was removing Huawei hardware from its core 4G network within the next two years, amid concerns over China’s influence on national telecoms giant.
The Chinese company has been accused of posing a security risk by US agencies, prompting the US, New Zealand and Australia to block its technology.
Huawei has repeatedly denied the accusations.
It will take EE four years to fully replace the Huawei parts from the ESN, such as its 4G “core” product, as parts would be removed retrospectively after tender process.
But the supplier said the network would be fully operational by 2019 as planned – still two years behind schedule.
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