A new bill introduced in the British Parliament yesterday proposes imposing tough new security regulations on the country's telecommunications companies. The Telecommunications Act aims to block suppliers of high-risk equipment, but also to strengthen security requirements for new high-speed fiber optic and 5G wireless networks .
If the bill is approved by Parliament, it will introduce stricter security standards regarding software and electronic equipment used for telephone calls, for internet traffic, as well as on telecommunications company sites.
Telecoms companies that fail to comply with the strict regulations will face high financial penalties, as they could be ordered to pay up to £100,000 per day or a percentage representing 10% of their sales.
The bill is divided into two parts: clauses 1 to 14 which refer to a stronger security framework for telecommunications, and clauses 15 to 23 which refer to new national security powers that allow the government to manage the risks posed by high-risk vendors.
As Infosecurity Magazine reports, the new bill provides that public telecommunications providers have an obligation to report breaches and share information with the UK telecommunications regulator “Ofcom”in order to assess the security of their networks.
Digital Policy Secretary Oliver Dowden said this groundbreaking bill would give the UK one of the toughest telecoms security regimes in the world while allowing the country to take the necessary action to protect its networks.
The proposed bill follows British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision in July to ban Chinese giant Huawei from building mobile networks in the United Kingdom. In addition, UK wireless providers have been given until 2027 to remove Huawei 5G equipment from their networks. Johnson said security concerns as well as US sanctions were the reasons for the ban.
Huawei expressed its disappointment at being excluded from UK networks, while the company's vice president, Victor Zhang, pointed out that this decision is politically motivated and not based on a fair assessment of security risks, stressing that it does not serve anyone's interests.
