BT Will Complete Huawei Removal by End-March

Howard Watson, chief security and networks officer at BT Group said the operator expects to complete the removal of Huawei gear from its core network by the end of next month. The company missed a deadline to remove the equipment at the turn of the year but had completed almost 99% of the work at that point. It could, however, be landed with a fine.

Watson highlighted the outstanding infrastructure was not for traffic, explaining it was used for managing data bundles with an alternative platform in the process of being built. “During the conversations with authorities on our efforts to remove Huawei kit, they were impressed by the amazing progress,” he added.

BT Group's chief networks officer Greg McCall highlighted the company was on track to activate its commercial standalone 5G network later this year. However, McCall reiterated comments made two years ago that it was not rushing the process and wanted to build the right network at the right time.

“Progress is good but we’re not rushing this. We want to get it right, we want to get the right level of quality and service that will enable us to differentiate and enable our customers to use core features of a 5G SA network,” he added.