(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. will publish a delayed review of its telecom policy next week -- but it will not include a decision on whether to allow China’s Huawei Technologies Co. to play a role in fifth generation wireless networks.
The verdict on Huawei will be postponed until after the next prime minister has taken office, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named because the discussions are confidential.
The Conservative Party is due to announce the winner of its leadership contest on Tuesday and Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will become prime minister the next day. The timing of the report’s publication was first reported by Reuters.
Pressure has been building on the government from U.K. and U.S. politicians, as well as network operators, to provide clarity on Huawei. In the past week, two parliamentary committees have urged Prime Minister Theresa May’s administration to publish its decision.
In April, reports of leaked discussions from the National Security Council chaired by May suggested Huawei was set to be allowed in non-core parts of networks. But May has announced her decision to step down since then, while President Donald Trump has intensified the U.S. campaign against the Shenzhen-based company by adding it to an export blacklist.
The White House argues Huawei’s connections to the Chinese government mean it could allow Beijing to use its network equipment to spy or disrupt critical systems set to rely on 5G networks -- an allegation the company denies.
The U.K. Parliament’s intelligence and security committee said in a report issued Friday that banning Huawei could make U.K. networks less secure by reducing the number of available suppliers. All four U.K. carriers are building their 5G networks using antennae from the Chinese vendor, and two have already gone live.
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