Britain said on Friday that it was pushing the U.S. to form a club of 10 nations that could develop its own 5G technology and reduce dependence on Huawei.
Britain has allowed the Chinese global leader in 5G technology to build up to 35% of the infrastructure necessary to roll out its new speedy data network. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson was reported by The Telegraph newspaper last week to have instructed officials to draw up plans to cut Huawei out of the network by 2023 as relations with China sour.
The Times newspaper said Britain is proposing a “D10” club of democratic partners that groups the G7 nations with Australia and the Asian technology leaders South Korea and India. It said one of the options involves channelling investments into existing telecommunication companies within the 10 member states.
A Downing Street spokesman confirmed that Britain is reaching out to partners in search for an alternative to Huawei.
