The United Kingdom’s largest wireless carrier, BT Group, will remove all equipment provided by Chinese telecom giant Huawei from its network for transferring calls and internet traffic due to national security concerns, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to BT, the move is part of an upgrade that has been going on for two years, since it acquired a rival network that used outdated technology.
The UK has been under pressure from the United States to ban the use of Chinese-made equipment, with the head of the Secret Intelligence Service saying this week that Britain faced a difficult decision over whether to phase out equipment from Chinese suppliers.
BT will continue to use Huawei equipment in non-core parts of its network, such as electronics in cellular towers and sidewalk cabinets.
The move is another blow to Huawei, which has already faced bans in Australia, New Zealand and the US.